But some are still apprehensive to come out for fear that they will be “held up” for questioning because of their status, according to a guest workers group that is helping process the overstayers’ documents.
Attorney General Edward Buckingham last week empowered the Division of Immigration and the secretaries of the Department of Labor and Commerce to issue and revoke umbrella permits.
The United Workers Movement, the Pilipino Contract Workers Association and the Coalition of United Workers joined the Office of the Federal Labor Ombudsman of the U.S. Department of the Interior in setting up booths at the entrance of CNMI Labor’s office to assist overstayers.
Glen A. Buultjens, the federal ombudsman caseworker and translator, said their office assigned four personnel to assist the Sri Lankan, Mandarin, Cantonese or Bangladeshi speaking former guest workers.
Buultjens said they also assisted those with pending cases and whose applications were rejected for deficiency of documents.
Ronnie Doca, Pilcowa chairman, said they are helping overstayers acquire a waiver request which will be submitted to the federal ombudsman for review.
Federal Ombudsman Pam Brown has advised that no guest worker should go to the Department of Labor for umbrella permits without a copy of Buckingham’s delegation attached.
“The common concern of our overstayrers is the difficulty in composing a letter explaining the reason for their overstaying on island,” said Rene Reyes, Coalition of United Workers president.
United Workers Movement leader Rabby Syed said overstayers will have to disclose their duration of residency in the CNMI, the duration of their out of status period, and the reason why they overstayed here.
