“Anyone without status who accrues unlawful presence would face the same bar if they left and wanted to return unless they had an approved waiver,” said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services regional media manager Marie Therese Sebrechts in response to this reporter’s inquiries.
According to U.S. immigration law, Sebrechts said, an alien is unlawfully present in the United States if he or she stays in the United States after expiration of his/her authorized stay.
Sebrechts said the U.S. Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which bars some aliens who accumulate “unlawful presence” in the U.S. and then leave the country, from reentering the United States for a period of time unless they first obtain a waiver.
In the case of CNMI workers whose permits expire on Nov. 27, 2011 and who have no pending applications for CW status or other employment or family-based application, Sebrechts said “they would begin to build up unlawful presence.”
If someone accumulates 180 days but less than a year of unlawful presence and then leaves the country, he/she would be barred from being admitted back into the United States for three years, she said.
If he/she accumulates one year or more of unlawful presence, then he/she would be barred from admission for 10 years, she added.
“No period of time during which an alien is under 18 years of age is taken into account in determining the period of unlawful presence in the United States,” Sebrechts explained.
“I cannot tell people what to do with their lives. USCIS has done everything possible in the past three years to provide information to help people make decisions and plans, and to provide options that gave them time to make decisions long before end of the two-year period after which their ‘grandfathered’ permits from the CNMI would expire,” Sebrechts said.
“Someone must have some type of status to remain lawfully present in the CNMI. USCIS does not grant parole based upon someone being unemployed,” Sebrechts went on to say.
Many long-time nonresidents, including those who have pending labor cases and parents of U.S. citizen children, who are currently jobless are still hoping for improved status, Variety was told.
Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan has introduced H.R. 1466 which will grant CNMI-only status to certain nonresidents. It will neither grant them U.S. citizenship nor U.S. permanent residency.
“This has no impact on other alien workers,” said Sebrechts, referring to H.R. 1466.
