SUKESH Chandra Barman has asked the federal court to review the decision of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to deny his CNMI long-term residency application.
Barman, represented by attorney Joseph Horey, filed a complaint for judicial review and declaratory and injunctive relief against USCIS.
The lawsuit named Rebecca Maliuwelur, in her official capacity as director of USCIS Guam field office, as respondent.
Barman wants the District Court for the NMI to issue an order declaring that his application met all the statutory criteria of eligibility for CNMI residency status as set forth in the Northern Mariana Islands Long-Term Residents Relief Act or U.S. Public Law 116-24.
The plaintiff wants the court to order the Guam field office to approve his application and grant him CNMI residency status, and issue him all appropriate documentation evidencing such status.
According to Horey, “The grant of [CNMI residency] status to plaintiff was unlawfully withheld by the Director, and the denial of his application was short of statutory right and not in accordance with law. In particular, the Director’s finding that plaintiff had not ‘resided continuously and lawfully’ in the CNMI for the requisite time period was erroneous as a matter of law and resulted from a misconstruction of the Relief Act.”
Background
On or about June 25, 2019, U.S. Public Law 1 16-24 or the Relief Act was signed into law by then-President Donald Trump.
The Relief Act established a new federal immigration status, known as NM-1, for long-term residents of the CNMI who met certain qualifications.
Persons with NM-1 status are authorized to reside and work in the CNMI indefinitely without necessity of any other immigrant visa or work visa.
NM-1 status was available for a limited time only. USCIS only accepted applications for such status between February 19, 2020 and August 17, 2020.
Barman applied to USCIS for NM-1 status on or about April 29, 2020, “thus within the limited window of availability,” his lawyer said.
Horey added that Barman met all the criteria of eligibility for NM-1 status set forth in the Relief Act:
• He had been lawfully present in the CNMI, under the immigration laws of the United States, on both June 25, 2019 and Dec. 31, 2018.
• He was admissible as an immigrant to the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, except for his lack of an immigrant visa.
• He had resided continuously and lawfully in the CNMI from Nov. 28, 2009 through June 25, 2019.
• He was not a citizen of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau.
• He was, on Nov. 27, 2011, the parent of two United States citizens (one was born on Saipan on Feb. 21, 2008, and the other was born on Saipan on Nov. 27, 2010), and he continued to have such family relationship with them on April 29, 2020.
Denial
Barman’s application for NM-1 status was denied by USCIS on Dec. 30, 2021.
He sought reconsideration of the denial on March 22, 2022, but it was denied by the director on Oct. 14, 2022.
“The action of the director was final and administratively unappealable, and is therefore ripe for judicial review,” Barman’s lawsuit stated.
