However, the countries that will be included in the CNMI program will still have to be considered, according to Igor V. Timofeyev, director of immigration policy and special adviser for refugee and asylum affairs of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
He was the guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Saipan meeting yesterday.
Timofeyev noted that the CNMI is visited by tourists from China and Russia, countries that are not included in the U.S. visa waiver program.
“The possibility of coming up with a visa waiver for some countries is something that we will be studying very carefully,” he said. “We still have to take into consideration what countries will be included on the visa waiver list.”
Timofeyev arrived here on Friday with a group of other officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to meet with CNMI officials and private sector representatives and discuss the federalization of local immigration, which will be implemented next year.
“The transition period will change the immigration policy of the CNMI,” he said.
Besides the visa waiver program, the federal delegation is also looking into the local guest worker program and foreign investment policies.
Timofeyev said they are getting as much information as they can on the local immigration system and how it operates
