The administration of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres is looking into the implications for the CNMI of the temporary ban for certain work visas executed by President Donald J. Trump last Monday.<\/p>\n
Included in the visa suspension in place until Dec. 31, 2020, are H-1B or H-2B visas, which are given to temporary workers performing services or labor of a temporary or seasonal nature; L visas which are for intra-company transferees; and J visas, which are given to physicians, professors, scholars, teachers, and exchange visitors. <\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, we\u2019re trying to look at the implications. There\u2019s a lot of H-2B on island, also H-1B visas. There\u2019s certainly going to be implications and we need to take a look at that with the attorney general and see what we need to do,\u201d said acting governor Arnold I. Palacios.<\/p>\n
He added that they would need to take a closer look at the President\u2019s order, and obtain more clarification from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as to whether there is an avenue for the CNMI to make a case regarding the situation. With many projects ongoing in the CNMI, the Commonwealth expects to continue to need H-2B visas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of construction, let\u2019s be honest about it, I don\u2019t think we can strengthen our [local] construction labor force in the next five to 10 years. We were hoping that we could continue to recruit, actually, from the outside,\u201d Palacios said, adding that his biggest concern would be health professionals. \u201cWe\u2019re lucky that we have CW [CNMI-Transitional Only workers] visas to address that issue,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
CWs are not affected<\/strong><\/p>\n In a separate interview with Saipan Tribune, Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) said that \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s June 22 proclamation does not apply to CWs at all.\u201d<\/p>\n The proclamation also does not apply to lawful permanent residents, immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, workers related to the food supply chain, and workers whose entry \u201cis in the national interest.\u201d<\/p>\n Sablan said that making foreign workers leave will transform Saipan into \u201calmost like a ghost town.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[The] population here is so diverse already and sending away the workers, many of these workers occupy positions that U.S. citizens, U.S. workers don\u2019t [want to] occupy. And it\u2019s not just here, it\u2019s throughout the nation,\u201d he added. \u201cThey are very important to our economy, and I want to give them H.R. 560. It doesn\u2019t give them any privilege, any access to public charge programs, it just gives them status here as a permanent resident only in the Northern Marianas.\u201d<\/p>\n H.R. 560, introduced by Sablan to provide permanent resident status to long-term CW workers and investors only in the CNMI, is now in the Senate after the U.S. House of Representatives passed it in February.<\/p>\n 3-year permit for long-term workers<\/strong><\/p>\n In the meantime, Sablan\u2019s e-newsletter announced that the Interim Final Rule implementing the NMI U.S. Workforce Act of 2018 took effect last week. <\/p>\n \u201cEmployers can now petition CW-1 workers, who meet the definition of long-term worker in the law, for the new, three-year permit. Employers are also now subject to new requirements, including e-verify program enrollment, semi-annual verification of CW-1 employment, and temporary departure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Aside from this, USCIS also announced the automatic extension of parole and employment authorization for Marianas persons with parole expiring on June 29, 2020. <\/p>\n According to Sablan, USCIS \u201cis taking this action to allow those applying for CNMI Long-Term Resident Status to do so without worrying about their status.\u201d<\/p>\n Those covered will need a copy of the web alert, Form I-766 (EAD) with the \u201cC-11\u201d category code and expiration date on or before June 29, 2020, as proof of identity, and work authorization, as proof of employment eligibility.<\/p>\n \u201cPublic Law 116-24 established the CNMI Long-Term Resident status. I introduced the legislation to provide permanent status for certain persons affected by the termination of the CNMI categorical parole programs in December 2018,\u201d said Sablan. \u201cApplications must be received by Aug. 17, 2020. This is the only opportunity to apply.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The administration of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres is looking into the implications for the CNMI…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":325584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-325569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325569","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\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}