Michael Aytes, acting deputy director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the opening of the Application Support Center is part of the preparations for the federalization of local immigration as mandated by U.S. Public Law 110-229.
Aytes was accompanied by other immigration officials who have jurisdiction over the CNMI.
They are: David G. Gulick, district director of the USCIS who was also the chief of staff for domestic operations in Washington, D.C.; Carolyn Muzyka, regional director of the Western Region of USCIS, which has jurisdiction over 28 immigration field offices, including Guam and the CNMI; and Walter Haith, USCIS field office director for Guam who is also a retired military official.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Alex Munson and the diplomats from Japan and the Philippines were also in attendance
The center is located at the TSL Plaza, which is owned by Tan Holdings Corp.
Aytes said the contract was awarded to TSL through a competitive bidding process.
He said the center offers fingerprinting and biometric services to persons working on their U.S. residency status.
The office will also register all documented foreign workers on the islands once the transition period of the federalization law begins in June..
“This opening is a very important step, allowing USCIS to better serve the people of the CNMI. People from the commonwealth will no longer have to travel to Guam for fingerprinting, biometrics or federal immigration information,” said Aytes.
Although the center won’t offer services to fill-up forms, it will offer information appointments for general immigration inquiries.
Appointments are made using InfoPass, a multilingual web-based system that is free on www.uscis.gov.
USCIS customer service line (800)-3755283 is also now accessible toll-free from the CNMI.
