{"id":253183,"date":"2017-05-27T08:57:28","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T22:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=253183"},"modified":"2017-05-27T08:57:28","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T22:57:28","slug":"breaking-news-uscis-reaches-cw-1-cap-fy-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/breaking-news-uscis-reaches-cw-1-cap-fy-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS: USCIS reaches CW-1 cap for FY 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As of May 25, 2017, USCIS has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the maximum possible numerical limit of workers who may be issued CNMI-Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) visas or otherwise provided with CW-1 status for fiscal year 2018.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Although the FY 2018 cap has not been set, it is required by statute to be less than the 12,998 workers set for FY 2017.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>USCIS will issue subsequent guidance when the FY 2018 cap is set and when we are able to announce the final receipt date.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Because the final receipt date will depend on the FY 2018 cap, it is also possible that USCIS will not accept some petitions received on or before May 25, 2017.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What happens after the cap is reached<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We will reject CW-1 petitions we received on or after May 26, 2017 that request an employment start date before Oct. 1, 2018. This includes CW-1 petitions for extensions of stay that are subject to the CW-1 cap. The filing fees will be returned with any rejected CW-1 petition.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If we reject an extension petition, the beneficiaries listed on that petition are not permitted to work beyond the validity period of the previously approved petition. Therefore, affected beneficiaries, including any CW-2 derivative family members of a CW-1 nonimmigrant, must depart the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands within 10 days after the CW-1 validity period expires, unless they have some other authorization to remain under U.S. immigration law.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Petitions that are subject to the CW-1 cap<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The following types of\u00a0Form I-129CW, Petition for a CNMI-Only Nonimmigrant Transitional Worker\u00a0are generally subject to the CW-1 cap:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>New employment petitions; and<\/li>\n<li>Extension of stay petitions.<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All CW-1 workers are subject to the cap\u00a0unless\u00a0the worker has already been counted toward the cap in the same fiscal year. The U.S. government\u2019s fiscal year begins on Oct. 1 and ends on Sept. 30.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The CW-1 cap does not apply to CW-2 derivative family members.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>When to file CW-1 petitions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We encourage CW-1 employers to file a petition for a CW-1 nonimmigrant worker up to 6 months in advance of the requested employment start date, and to file as early as possible within that timeframe. Please note, however, that we will reject a petition if it is filed more than 6 months in advance.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alternate classifications<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Go to the\u00a0Working in the U.S.\u00a0page for a list of all the immigration classifications available for temporary and permanent workers. A general description of each classification, along with eligibility criteria and other filing requirements, can be found by clicking on the links provided on the page.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For more information about the CW-1 work program, visit the\u00a0CW-1: CNMI-Only Transitional Worker\u00a0page or call the National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283. (USCIS)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As of May 25, 2017, USCIS has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1355],"tags":[508,121,119],"class_list":["post-253183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-fy","tag-northern-mariana-islands","tag-uscis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253183","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\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}