Topping the list were workers from the Philippines, 11,407.
Permits issued to Chinese workers totaled 1,846; Bangladeshis, 177; Japanese, 479; Koreans, 618; and Thais, 114.
An additional 426 foreign nationals whose countries were not specified in the report also hold labor permits.
“The number of permits issued reflects transactions processed by the Department of Labor. It is not equivalent to the number of persons in each of these citizenship classes as a given person may have been affected by more than one permit action during a given year or hold a two-year permit issued the prior year and thus not be reflected in these 2009 numbers at all,” a footnote to the department’s report stated.
The U.S. Federal Labor Ombudsman’s Office, which conducted a separate counting of documented foreign nationals in the CNMI in 2009, reported 16,304 foreign workers.
Of the figure, 15,816 had spent five years or more in the CNMI; 2,221, between three and five years; 819, less than six months; and 24 had undeclared work period.
Business establishments related to the tourism industry hired most of the foreign workers, the Labor Department reported.
Out of the 15,067 permits processed, 3,884 were employed in establishments engaged in accommodation and food services.
An additional 4,412 worked for related services.
1,364 worked for the construction industry and 99 were employed in the arts, entertainment and recreation-related establishments.
Close to 1,500 were maids or caretakers.
Others were in the professional, technical, real estate, retail trade, warehousing education and other categories.
