Introduced by Rep. Sylvestre I. Iguel, House Bill 17-71 is now Public Law 17-56.
Iguel, Covenant-Saipan, said he came up with the proposal because the CNMI Medical Professional Licensing Board has no rules for issuing licenses to non-U.S. citizens for healthcare jobs.
Iguel said it is appropriate to adopt a regulation to license foreign medical professionals.
Now that it is a law, the CNMI’s licensing board can issue licenses to foreign and international medical graduates without training in the U.S. or a U.S.-issued license.
There will be two categories:
For Category I, a temporary license, applicants must be 21 years old, lawfully entitled to enter and remain in the CNMI, a graduate of a medical school listed International Medical Education Directory, has completed a three-year post-graduate program, passed the national specialty exam, has good command of English and has a letter of good standing from the origin country’s licensing agency.
This license will be for a period of not more than two years and will not be renewed or extended.
For Category II, a conditional license, applicants must have Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates certification and must pass federal licensing examination, the National Board of Medical Examiners or the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination. The applicant must have previously held unrestricted license to practice medicine in the U.S.
This category is for two years but if the bearer has satisfied the conditions of the license after serving the term, he or she may apply for another two-year unrestricted license.
Last Monday, Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos, as acting governor, signed Public Law 17-54 which allows a non-U.S. citizen to be appointed by the governor to serve on the Marianas Visitors Authority board of directors.
Authored by Speaker Eli D. Cabrera, R-Saipan, House Bill 17-209 also reduced from five to four the number of U.S. citizen members of the board. The new law allows the governor to appoint the fifth and non-U.S. citizen member.
