One of the requirements for a student visa applicant is to have a health insurance policy in the CNMI.
“There are individual health insurances available but they are too expensive and there is no student health policy,” Secretary of Commerce Michael Ada said on Friday.
The best solution, he added, is to create a student health bond with a minimum worth of $3,000 in coverage and a premium of 2 to 6 percent.
Under the new regulations, the foreign students will pay from $60 to $180 a year.
Commerce reached out to the insurance industry but only Traders Insurance and Century Insurance have offered the bond, Ada said.
The insurance companies are still reviewing the forms before he, as the insurance commissioner, could approve them.
He said foreign students who have already purchased an individual health insurance from a company may cancel it if they prefer the health bond that will be available soon.
“The policy they have purchased is not a student policy, it’s an individual policy,” he added.
Commerce wants foreign students insured because “if they get admitted in the hospital and sent home for unpaid bills, who is going to pay?” Ada said. “The CNMI government and the people will be stuck with the unpaid bills.”
‘Too much’
But some learning institutions see the new rule as a “burden” on foreign students.
“Availing a medical insurance is too much for a student,” Chari de Guzman, the manager of International Business and Professional College said in an interview on Monday.
“I think it is a federal regulation,” Frankie Eliptico, public relations officer of Northern Marianas College, said in a separate interview.
He added that when he was studying in Hawaii, the school required him to have a medical insurance.
Eucon president Christian Wei believes that “medical insurance for foreign students is not the best ideal for the market of international students at this moment. However, the governor and the secretary of commerce recently issued a surety bond for students, and this will help to promote the market since it will make sure the hospital will be paid if the students get sick, and if in case there is any problem, the insurance company with the surety bond will be covered for that.”
He added, “I believe the foreign students market at this moment is still very fragile. Any rule and regulation not friendly to the students and parents will stop this market…. Our college is accredited and will start a master’s degree. We can provide more and something that others cannot do in this area. However, we need to have government to help us so that we will be able to…attract [students].”
Sponsorship
Commerce is also now requiring schools to certify that a sponsor is capable to provide the needs of a foreign student, Ada said.
“The reason for this is [if anything] happens to the child and the sponsor, we go to the school and say ‘you certified that the sponsor is OK.’ ” he added.
This rule applies to all schools, public or private, in the CNMI.
To get a student visa, a foreign student must have a sponsor capable of paying his housing, transportation and educational expenses in the CNMI.
The application for sponsorship requires the sponsor to provide a proof of financial ability to pay for the education and medical expenses of the foreign student.
Ada said the school must notify Commerce if a foreign student is no longer attending classes and has not enrolled in another institution.
Commerce will then advise Immigration about the student’s status.
Ada said Commerce does not meddle with school policies.
The department, he added, only ensures that the students are safe and the schools are eligible to take foreign students.
To date, Commerce said it has approved only 14 foreign student visas but other applications are still being reviewed.
