CNMI BILL: NO CITIZENSHIP FOR FOREIGN WORKERS

PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT

Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i

CNMI BILL: NO CITIZENSHIP FOR FOREIGN WORKERS

By Agnes Donato

SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune, June 19) – The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) immigration bill now pending in the U.S. Senate would allow long-term foreign workers to live in the United States indefinitely, but not to apply for U.S. citizenship, according to U.S. Interior Secretary David B. Cohen.

Cohen, who led the drafting of the bill, yesterday clarified that qualified workers would be eligible for non-immigrant status similar to those enjoyed by citizens of freely associated states.

This status is different from "permanent residence," which is granted to qualified non-U.S. citizens who successfully apply to become "immigrants." Permanent residents get "green cards" and are generally eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship after five years.

"The status for long-term guest workers that we put into the draft bill.would allow people to work, study, travel and live in the U.S. for an indefinite period of time. It's a unique nonimmigrant status because it goes on indefinitely, as long as the person does not do anything that makes him or her deportable, such as committing a felony.

"It does not, however, give the person the opportunity to apply for U.S. citizenship unless he or she qualifies or becomes qualified under some other provision of the law. For example, by marrying a U.S. citizen or obtaining a qualification that qualifies the person for an employment-based immigrant visa," Cohen wrote in an email to the Saipan Tribune.

Therefore, he said, there was no basis for fears that the one-time grandfathering provision would result in thousands of foreign nationals becoming U.S. citizens and participating in local politics in the near future.

Under the grandfathering provision, nonimmigrant visas will be provided to nonresidents who have been legally employed in the CNMI for at least five years. Applicants must pass a criminal and medical background check.

"This is an attempt to balance the concerns of local residents, some of whom fear losing political control, and long-term guest workers, who are afraid that losing their jobs would force them to relocate back home-even if they have U.S. citizen children.

"Some long-term guest workers also expressed the desire to accompany their U.S. citizen children on trips to Guam or elsewhere in the U.S. for field trips, academic or athletic competitions, medical treatments, or other purposes," Cohen said.

He acknowledged that some long-term guest workers might relocate to other U.S. jurisdictions, once granted the improved immigration status.

But he maintained that limiting options for the guest workers, especially in a struggling CNMI economy, would leave them more vulnerable to exploitation.

He also noted that the bill includes provisions allowing the CNMI to replace needed workers through an extendable 10-year transition period and waivers of nonimmigrant work visa caps.

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