About 800 applications for contract worker permit renewals submitted at least 90 days before expiration would be processed \u201cby the end of the day\u201d yesterday, according to U.S Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (MP-Ind)\u2014with the expectation that most of the 800 applications pending would be approved.<\/p>\n
\u201cA small number will require more evidence from the applicant,\u201d Sablan said in a statement yesterday, after a phone call with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service director Leon Rodriguez. \u201cAnd an even smaller number will probably be denied, as is usually the case,\u201d Sablan added.<\/p>\n
In early December, about 100 applicants\u2014concerned about processing delays\u2014came to the Sablan\u2019s congressional office. Most were successfully resolved. However, while working on those cases, USCIS informed Sablan that there were actually 2,800 of applications backlogged at the processing center in California\u2014with 800 filed 90 days before expiration and 2,000 filed late.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was unacceptable to me,\u201d Sablan said in his statement. \u201cAnd we are already seeing the negative effects of that backlog with businesses having to close or cut back hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sablan has also written to Rodriguez to ask for federal rules to be finalized to allow certain visa-holders, including contract workers, to work while their permits are being processed, Sablan told Saipan Tribune in an interview yesterday. These rules\u2014published for comment in the federal register in mid-2014\u2014have been \u201c19 months in the making.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sablan explained that these regulations would allow an employee to continue to work up to 240 days while their petitions are being adjudicated\u2014until approval or denial or a request for more evidence is issued.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that has not been finalized,\u201d Sablan told Saipan Tribune. \u201c[Rodriguez] doesn\u2019t have an answer for me on that one yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be finalized, hopefully, sooner rather than later,\u201d added Sablan.<\/p>\n
In their phone call, Rodriguez also assured that \u201cwhat\u2019s going on now\u201d would not be happening come Dec. 31 or Jan 1 next year, Sablan said.<\/p>\n
Sablan\u2019s office has been working daily through the holidays to make sure that USCIS puts extra people to work processing those applications and look at other actions the agency can take to help keep businesses open. Rodriguez called yesterday to give Sablan an update and his \u201cpersonal commitment that he is taking action and that we will see results today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The delay in contract worker renewals was felt by businesses all over the Commonwealth. It has affected over 20 percent of the CW workforce, as there are over 10,000 contract workers in the CNMI. For one, the delay has been reported to affect roughly 50 employees at Triple J Enterprises, which owns such restaurants like Truongs, Tony Roma\u2019s, Capricciosa, among other businesses. Also, at least 10 contract workers\u2014from China, Korea, and the Philippines\u2014at the popular tourist shop, Star Sands Plaza, have also been affected, with most of these being at the managerial level. Some eligible workers have been given extended work hours, Saipan Tribune learned yesterday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
About 800 applications for contract worker permit renewals submitted at least 90 days before expiration…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[38,9004,8715,119],"class_list":["post-218060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines","tag-saipan-tribune","tag-star-sands-plaza","tag-tony-roma","tag-uscis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218060\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}