Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) have reason to rejoice as the President of the United States of America (USA); George Bush recently approved the bill that would apply the US federal immigration law to CNMI. An estimated number of 10,000 legal OFWs in CNMI are said to benefit from this new development.

The new law, S. 2739 or the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 would erased CNMI’s previous status as the only US territory that implements independent immigration policy. The new law would put CNMI under the federal immigration system practiced in the whole of America.

Wendy Doroma, US-based human rights advocate said, “This is a significant victory for every advocate, every federal official, and every person who has fought to end labor and human rights abuses in the CNMI. It is a momentous victory for the guest workers in the CNMI."

Filipinos who have been working and living in CNMI for many years are overjoyed by the possibility of the benefits they are qualified to enjoy under the federal guest worker program.

The new policy allows employers in the CNMI to petition their foreign workers for H visas, or obtain temporary CNMI-only non-immigrant work permits. Likewise, CNMI government-approved foreign workers who are legally present in the CNMI under its immigration laws on the effective date of the transition period are provisionally protected from deportation.

During and after the transition period, employers in CNMI may also petition their workers for non immigrant and employment-based permanent immigration status. The procedures followed by US employers will apply.

With the passing of the bill, a group of foreign workers was formed called The Coalition of United Guest Workers. The group is examining the four ways for CNMI employers to deploy foreign workers under S. 2739.

The investigative arm of the US Congress The US Government Accountability Office (GAO), lists the following:

1. CNMI and Guam employers may petition foreign workers under federal nonimmigrant H visas without counting against numerical caps for H-1B and H-2B visas. Every year, only 66,000 H visas are issued for employers across the United States. Until 2014, the CNMI and Guam will be exempted from this quota.

2. Employers may acquire temporary CNMI-only nonimmigrant work permits. This option is available, during the transition period, for employers of foreign
workers who are not eligible for H visas.

3. During the transition period, existing CNMI-government-approved foreign workers who are
legally present in the CNMI under CNMI immigration laws on the effective date of the transition period are temporarily protected from deportation.

4. During and after the transition period, CNMI employers can petition for non immigrant status and employment-based permanent immigration status for workers under the same procedures as other US employers.

The new immigration policy in CNMI is expected to be implemented by June of this year. Majority of the 19,000 foreign workers in CNMI are Filipinos.