The CW regulations were supposed to have been adopted before the federal government took over the islands’ immigration system on Nov. 28, 2009 but a Washington-based judge agreed with the Fitial administration’s contention that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security failed to follow technical rules in publishing the proposed regulations in the Federal Register, thus, a republication was necessary to give the public enough time to comment.
The CNMI Department of Labor reported it processed a total of 15,067 labor permits for foreign national workers during calendar year 2009 but stressed that the figures did not reflect the actual number of persons as some held a two-year permit or had their classifications changed.
The U.S. Federal Labor Ombudsman’s Office, on the other hand, reported that 16,304 foreign national workers were documented in the CNMI in the same year.
Many of these workers were employed in businesses related to the tourism industry, the backbone of the islands’ economy.
They are ineligible to apply for federal H1 or H2 visas but the CW status, if granted by USCIS, will allow them to work in the CNMI until the end of the transition period on Dec. 31, 2014. The transition period, however, may be extended by the federal government.
