U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has yet to release new guidelines for the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker program regulations, 11 days before the new fiscal year.<\/p>\n
Come Sept. 30, 2019, this would mark the second year of processing CW-1 petitions based on previous regulations. Some aspects of the CW-1 visa were improved through Public Law 115-218, or the NMI U.S. Workforce Act of 2018 in July of that year.<\/p>\n
\u201cUSCIS does not have any new guidance on the CW-1 program at this time,\u201d an agency representative told Saipan Tribune in a statement yesterday. \u201cAs previously announced, all CW-1 filings for fiscal year 2020 must include an approved temporary labor certification [TLC] from the U.S. Department of Labor.\u201d <\/p>\n
Besides the TLC requirement for CW-1 petitions, employers should continue to follow current USCIS regulations.<\/p>\n
P.L. 115-218 ultimately extended the CW-1 program for an additional 10 years. Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) co-sponsored the bill, which was championed by U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT).<\/p>\n
The legislation also allowed long-term workers to apply for a three-year CW permit; however, with no USCIS regulations governing this, CNMI employers remain in the dark about how to apply for this.<\/p>\n
The lack of clarity on the legislation also left several employers reluctant in filing their CW-1 renewal petitions, since there were new regulatory requirements such as the prevailing wage determination and the TLC processing. Gov. Ralph DLG Torres told Saipan Tribune in a previous interview that his office is already looking at the numbers of employers who reportedly started the CW renewal process late.<\/p>\n
According to the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, a mass exit of over half of the CNMI\u2019s total workforce would result in economic devastation since U.S.-eligible co-workers would also lose their jobs if businesses shutdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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