He said the immediate relatives of FAS citizens are subject to FAS laws and should seek an improved status from the FAS governments.
The FAS are Palau, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia — Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap.
In his letter to Irene N. Tantiado, United Workers Movement, NMI president, Grey said two-year permit extension is available to the IRs of CNMI permanent residents.
“This is a very small group of aliens who were granted permanent resident status in the 1970s and 1980s. The proposed regulations make the immediate relatives of this group eligible for a two-year permit,” Grey said.
But Tantiado said they will continue to ask Immigration to reconsider its position on the IRs of FAS citizens
“We will come up with plans to convince the [attorney general] to include these people,” he said. “What we are asking for is only an extension to the permit which I think should be the call of the CNMI government and not the FAS governments,” Tantiado said.
She earlier asked Immigration n to include the FAS IRs in the proposed amendments to the CNMI Immigration Regulations that will allow for two-year permits.
The amendments will take effect on Jan. 1, 2009.
Published in the Commonwealth Register, the proposed amendments allow for two-year permits in selected categories of immediate relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, foreign investors, foreign students, and foreign workers upon the Immigration director’s finding that granting them two-year permits is in the interest of the commonwealth.
The director will make available automatic two-year permits for permanent residents of the CNMI should permitting be required for any reason.
For the IRs of qualified foreign national workers, Grey said the request for extension is not necessary because the proposed regulations make foreign national workers eligible for a two-year permit and the IRs of foreign national workers are eligible for the same length of time as the alien sponsor.
This is similar to the case of the IRs of American Samoans since the IRs of U.S. nationals will be treated in the same manner as the IRs of U.S. citizens, he added.
Grey assured Tantiado that Immigration “will give each of your comments careful consideration before publishing the final version of the regulations.”
