No extension of Nov. 27 deadline

The Nov. 27 deadline for filing a Commonwealth-only worker petition remains as Congress didn’t initiate any move to extend the deadline before going into recess, and won’t be back in session until Nov. 29.

Nonresidents taking part in “Occupy USCIS” said yesterday there are still a few days left for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to decide on their request for a grant of parole for all legal aliens in the CNMI, even as individual jobless nonresidents continue to make last-minute filings of requests for parole-in-place with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan said yesterday there was no “legislative fix” to extend the deadline before Congress went into recess.

Sablan also requested DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano for “administrative remedy” by granting parole to individuals covered by his H.R. 1466 and who would otherwise have to leave the CNMI after Nov. 27.

“There’s no answer from DHS yet,” he said yesterday. “It’s a difficult situation.”

HR 1466, which also didn’t pass the U.S. House of Representatives before going into recess, seeks a CNMI-only resident status for four groups of aliens, including parents of U.S. citizen children.

Sablan said parole would be an interim status until his HR 1466 can win passage in the House and Senate and be enacted into law by the president.

USCIS district director David Gulick, when asked about the same issue, also said the deadline remains.

While there is no longer a chance of a legislative action to extend the deadline, United Workers Movement-NMI president Rabby Syed said there’s still “administrative remedy” available.

“DHS can still grant parole for all legal aliens on or before Nov. 28,” said Syed, as he joined long-term nonresidents at a gathering yesterday to celebrate foreign workers’ contributions to the CNMI, at the Occupy USCIS tent near the USCIS office in Garapan yesterday afternoon.

The final rule says CW petitions must be filed on or before Nov. 27. But because that date is a Sunday on Saipan and still Nov. 26 in the mainland, the deadline is oftentimes believed to be Nov. 28.

After Nov. 27, anyone who does not have some federal immigration status issued by the U.S. government could go “out of status.”

And with only a few days left before Nov. 28, many unemployed nonresidents are still making last-minute requests for parole with USCIS.

Ruben Creencia, 53, is among those racing against time to file a request for parole with USCIS.

Unlike others who do not have employers, Creencia said he currently has an employer who has yet to file a CW petition on his behalf. He said he brought up the issue with his employer in October and early this month but that petition has yet to be sent, he said. Creencia said he has been working for the same employer since 1989.

“It’s now near Nov. 27. I am afraid I will lose my status so I am requesting parole. I already gave my employer the $85 for biometrics,” he said yesterday. He also has a 17-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen, and this makes him also eligible to benefit from HR 1466 so he does not want to risk losing status after Nov. 27.

Bernard de Guzman, who lost his job on Oct. 6 as a gas attendant, said he mailed his parole request with USCIS only yesterday morning.

“I hope they will grant me parole by Nov. 27 or 28. I would still like to continue looking for a job here; I just need more time. I just lost my job,” said the worker, who has three children in the Philippines. He said his eldest child wasn’t able to enroll in second year college because he couldn’t afford it at this time when he is jobless. His two other children are in high school.

De Guzman added that a previous employer still owes him $6,000 to $7,000 in back wages for hours worked from 2008 to 2010. “I have a pending labor case,” he said.

Other unemployed nonresidents who requested parole have been granted parole, mostly up to Jan. 31, 2012. A grant of parole is discretionary, on a case-by-case basis, and is up to USCIS.

But others are still waiting for USCIS’ decision on their parole request.

Regie Rivera, 40, said she hand-carried her parole request to the USCIS office in Garapan in mid-October but has yet to receive a response from USCIS.

“I am now worried. It’s now almost Nov. 27 and I haven’t heard from USCIS,” said Rivera, who has a 7-year-old U.S. citizen daughter.

Lolit Velasco, 56, said while her employer is filing her CW petition this week, she sympathizes with many others who not only don’t have employers to file a petition on their behalf but also do not have parole status.

“But I also know that others are afraid to come out because their employer may not file their CW petition if they see them in the newspaper or if they join Occupy USCIS. My main concern is the families who would be separated if the parents of U.S. citizen children are sent home. How would you feel if that happens to your family?” she asked.

At the Occupy USCIS tent, many nonresidents have been taking turns manning the tent 24 hours a day. Their goal remains: To ask DHS to grant parole-in-place for all until Congress initiates action granting improved immigration status for long-term legal aliens in the CNMI.