When U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denies applications for CNMI-Only Transitional Worker program visa permits, Sen. Sixto K. Igisomar (R-Saipan) believes guidelines should be in place to inform foreign workers about what they can do next.<\/p>\n
In a Senate session yesterday on Capitol Hill, Igisomar said the CNMI Department of Labor or even policy-makers should inform foreign workers on their next course of action following a newly declined or canceled CW-1 application.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must have some sort of guidance or pro-activity from our DOL or our policy-makers or [even] from the employers themselves. Who is responsible for the workers and where do they go?\u201d asked Igisomar.<\/p>\n
According to the senator, several foreign workers who have had their CW-1 petitions denied have contacted his office on the matter, seeking assistance.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of these employees are released from work because USCIS denied their CW-1 petition,\u201d he said. These employees are \u201ctrying to figure out what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of them have gone underground for fear that they might be deported by their employer and their\u2026families left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Igisomar said several workers have also reported that their employers, upon learning that their CW-1 petitions have been denied, cancelled their employment. In response, Igisomar said there must be some sort of guidance for foreign workers, or a frequently-asked-questions type to educate employers and employees on what they should know if their petition isn cancelled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has got to be some form of guidance or outreach to give them information ahead,\u201d he said, adding that suddenly informing an employee that they have to exit the CNMI within 10 days is unreasonable.<\/p>\n
Workers who have a family in the CNMI under the CW-2 visa\u2014the visa that allows relatives of a CW-1 worker to enter the CNMI as dependents of the CW-1 applicant\u2014are most affected, he said.<\/p>\n
In addition to the CW-1 program crisis, the senator maintained that an effort must be done in order to repatriate the workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that Gov. Ralph DLG Torres is doing his best out there but there is also this thing that I also do not want to forget\u2014that there are some CW-1 employees out there with CW-2 families that are somehow being stranded. We cannot tolerate any employer who does not take the effort to make sure that there is a good transition for the lives of these workers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sen. Jude Hofschneider (R-Tinian) agreed that there is a \u201clack of guidance\u201d for CW-1 workers. Hofschneider said his office has had its fair share of CW-1 calls for assistance. He added that one worker was reportedly informed to exit the CNMI within 10 days from Dec. 27, 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a tall task to ask someone who has been around for the last 20-some years,\u201d said Hofschneider.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that back in 2012, a Senate effort was put forth to \u201calleviate\u201d the CW-1 crisis. \u201cWe came out with a series of public hearings [back then] to see what we can do with the nonresident workers who have been here for over 10 years legally, but unfortunately that was a fragmented approach because there was no [uniformity],\u201d he said, adding that the House and the Executive Branch at the time \u201cdid not see the same views.\u201d<\/p>\n
Had the effort been supported, Hofschneider said, there could have been some \u201cwiggle room.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CW-1 issue is front and center and basically it is something that everyone in the CNMI should be concerned [about],\u201d he said, adding that the CW-1 program was somehow a vehicle to measure how far the CNMI economic successes could move forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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