{"id":24577,"date":"2012-07-21T06:08:37","date_gmt":"2012-07-21T06:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newspaper.ctsi-logistics.com\/?p=24577"},"modified":"2012-07-21T06:08:37","modified_gmt":"2012-07-21T06:08:37","slug":"new-visa-category-for-foreign-retirees-in-cnmi-pushed-anew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/new-visa-category-for-foreign-retirees-in-cnmi-pushed-anew\/","title":{"rendered":"New visa category for foreign retirees in CNMI pushed anew"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has yet to communicate to the CNMI whether it will study or at least consider creating a new visa category for foreign retirees in the CNMI, almost a year since Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan (Ind-MP) brought up the issue in separate letters with DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano in August and September 2011.<\/div>\n<p>Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Douglas Brennan is bringing this request once again to Napolitano&#8217;s attention in Thursday&#8217;s letter that also asks for a five-year extension of the federal immigration transition period.<\/p>\n<p>Brennan said the creation of new visa categories in the CNMI for foreign retirees is a way to stimulate real estate transactions, create a broader customer base for products in the CNMI, and provide quality residents in the CNMI that already has strong ties with Japan, Korea, and other Asian countries.<\/p>\n<p>He attached in his letter copies of the August 2011 letter from Fitial and September 2011 letter from Sablan, bringing the matter to DHS&#8217; attention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe SCC asks for your consideration in communicating with Governor Fitial about his Aug. 25, 2011, letter to DHS,\u201d Brennan told Napolitano.<\/p>\n<p>Fitial is currently in Washington, D.C. but it&#8217;s not immediately known whether his itinerary includes a meeting with Napolitano or any top DHS official on matters affecting the CNMI.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Public Law 110-229, the law that placed CNMI immigration under federal control, allows for the governors of the CNMI and\/or Guam to request from the DHS secretary new visa categories under which the CNMI&#8217;s plans and investments for retirement communities would still be viable under the new federal immigration authority, Fitial had told Napolitano.<\/p>\n<p>He said many businesses and civic organizations have identified the Asian retiree market as a natural economic extension or progression, based upon current visitor demographics.<\/p>\n<p>Sablan, in a September 2011 letter to the Chamber&#8217;s Brennan, said he also wrote to Napolitano asking for a timetable for her response to Fitial&#8217;s letter and encouraging her prompt consideration of the request.<\/p>\n<p>By Haidee V. Eugenio<br \/>\nReporter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has yet to communicate to the CNMI whether it&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,170,62,44],"class_list":["post-24577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi","tag-japan","tag-korea","tag-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24577","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\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}