During a media conference Thursday at the USCIS office in Garapan, USCIS regional media manager Marie Therese Sebrecths and Honolulu District Director David G. Gulick reiterated that nonresidents will not be getting green cards or U.S. citizenship.
As for the U.S. citizen children who believe that their parents will be sent home, Sebrechts said: “If the goal is to have people leave, then we wouldn’t have programs for people to stay.”
She said if any of the parents is employed, then that parent can be petitioned by his or her employer for CW1 and he or she can petition the spouse and children as CW-2.
The agency also denied rumors that CW status will allow anyone to travel to any part of the United States. “CW status does not allow you to travel to other parts of the U.S. It is only good in the CNMI,” Sebrechts said.
They also echoed what they said in previous outreach sessions that CW status is not automatic and employers have to petition the workers.
As of Thursday, USCIS had already conducted 43 outreach sessions in the community.
Asked about the expected high number of CW applications from the CNMI, Gulick said, “We can handle the load.”
He said they receive 4.5 million applications nationwide. “10,000 [CNMI] applications are not that many.”
For more information, log on to www.uscis.gov.
