Tracking system for CW permits
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services should have implemented a tracking system for CW1 permits issued each fiscal year, preventing abuses of the program, according to Rep. Angel A. Demapan (R-Saipan).
“Sometimes, the predicaments that we experience with the CW1 program are basically systemic in nature. We have cases where employers apply for permits but then after approval sometimes there’s no longer a need to bring the employee here anymore,” said Demapan.
CW1 permits, the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker Nonimmigrant visa program, are issued to foreign workers and allows them to work in the Commonwealth for a year. Employers renew their workers annually and the program would end on Dec. 31, 2019.
Demapan, a former chairman of the House Committee on Federal and Foreign Affairs, said there were previous cases where foreign laborers hired to work in the CNMI no longer pursue their employment once USCIS releases their permits.
“So these are CW1 slots that are, in the eyes of Homeland Security, are being utilized. The problem is, there’s no tracking system whether the actual body of the employee is here on the ground once the slot is approved,” said Demapan.
He added businesses are forced to temporarily send their employees home once the numerical limit is reached each fiscal year. The cap was hit twice early in 2016 and 2017.
“Now that we were able to see that there are slots that are pretty much being held in the air, these slots could have otherwise been diverted to employees who are undergoing the renewal process.”
“We stand to lose those slots to the detriment of other businesses. Now we are seeing employees that have been here for years having to exit because the slots are not available,” Demapan said.
Construction laborers who only work for six months or less is another predicament the CW1 visa program faces, said Demapan.
He added that once these construction workers go back to China, that again wastes the slots, which could have been used by other essential workers like those in the healthcare profession.
Demapan believes those in construction should fall under a different category in order not to use up the limited CW1 slots every fiscal year.
Was it the reason the NMI’s authority to handle labor and immigration of foreign workers taken away because its less than mediocre ability to handle both? Now, we are seeing the worst case scenario. A simple tracking system for CW’s has NEVER been in place from the very beginning. Don’t you all think the NMI should enter into a dialogue to get it back? What do you think?
I think an open dialogue is important. I’m less optimistic about how the NMI would manage the program. There aren’t many shiny past models of management to suggest it could be done. It seems more of a delay tactic to keep things the same.
Agree!
Should have could have but didn’t! That is exactly why we can’t be trusted to manage any immigrant program?
Too bad angel baby, you should have been a little proactive on this issue by only waiting until someone else did something, one minute too late obviously! Too busy entertaining your favorite benefactor on island, ha?