USA CONTROLLED GAUM AND NORTHERN AND MARIANAS ISLAND RECEIVED EXEMPTION FOR FOREIGN WORKERS UNDER H-1 AND H-B FOR A FURTHER PERIOD OF FIVE YEARS MEAN UP TO 2019 WHICH WILL BENEFITS AROUND 10000 WORKERS ALREADY ON SUCH VISA TO STAY AND WORK KEEPING IN VIEW THE SHORTAGE OF WORKERS IN BOTH ISLANDS 30TH MAY 2014 A proposal to extend Guam and the Northern Marianas exemption from the national limit on foreign worker visas received congressional committee approval yesterday. The House Natural Resources Committee approved H.R. 4296 by unanimous consent, said its author, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Delegate Gregorio C. Sablan. The foreign worker visa issue is part of a broader bill that would grant congressional approval of the CNMIs request for another five years to phase out about 10,000 foreign workers. The workers came in before or during the transition out of the local governments control of immigration. The U.S. Department of Labor also has granted the same extension. The application of U.S. immigration law in the CNMI several years ago stripped the local government of its authority to grant future visas to foreign workers, tourists and investors. Sablan introduced the bill on March 25. Doc Hastings, Natural Resources Committee chairman, brought the bill before the full committee for a vote yesterday. Guam sought an exemption from the national limit on visas for H-1 and H-2B visas in anticipation of the need for hundreds to almost 3,000 additional off-island workers each year at the peak of the military buildup. Without Sablans bill, to extend the exemption through 2019, the national limit on H visas would take effect in January 2015. The exemption from the numerical limit on H visas was originally intended to meet the labor needs of the U.S. military buildup, Sablan said. But the buildup has been delayed. And the Defense Department says that a lack of H2-B construction workers would cause further delay at a time when our region is becoming of increasing strategic importance. So, I think it is for the good of our country to extend the H visa exemption, Sablan added. The revised buildup plan shows some of the construction projects could start on Guam next year. Sablans bill also would extend two programs, a CNMI-only foreign investor program, and a bar on claims of asylum in the Northern Marianas. The prohibition on asylum-seekers, Sablan said, gives the Department of Homeland Security more flexibility to allow tourists from China and Russia to enter without the need for visas. Russian and Chinese tourists now account for 28 percent of the CNMIs total arrivals, Sablan said. Just as our economy seems to be improving, Sablan said, we do not want to risk losing those Chinese and Russian tourists. H.R. 4296 awaits approval from the House Judiciary Committee before it moves to the House of Representatives for a vote. After that, the Senate must approve Sablans bill.
Posted on: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 09:43:02 +0000
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