Visa extension for Chinese tourists could work for and against CNMI

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) welcomed yesterday the signing of reciprocal visa validity arrangement that extends visas for Chinese visitors to the United States for up to 10 years and vice versa for American tourists visiting China.

“The President’s announcement that longer-term, U.S. visas will be available for tourists, businesspeople, and students from China could benefit the Commonwealth. First, in simple geopolitical terms, anything the U.S. and China can do to enlarge and normalize relations enhances security in our region. That’s good for us,” said Sablan in an email to Saipan Tribune.

Sablan, who is en route to Washington, D.C, to resume his work in the final days of the 113th Congress, said the deal would also improve commerce between the U.S. and China, which benefits would trickle down to the Commonwealth.

“China is also a growing trade partner for the Commonwealth, and giving Chinese investors and businesspeople the opportunity to stay in the Northern Marianas longer will encourage trade. The Commonwealth is also becoming a destination for students from Asia, so making it easier for Chinese students to stay for longer periods of time could benefit us in that respect.”

Simon Chan, a partner at the international law firm, Dorsey and Whitney in its Hong Kong office, said the U.S. and China visa agreement would jump-start the former’s economy by influencing many business sectors.

“The new U.S. visa procedure on Chinese visitors will certainly give Chinese dealmakers better access to travel to the U.S. It will likely drive up private equity investments both at a personal and institutional level. We are already seeing Chinese companies set up offices in West and East coasts. And we are seeing more and more wealthy Chinese families acquire homes and properties in the U.S, as a result,” said Chan.

He said the first sector in the U.S. that will benefit from all this will be the U.S. real estate market.

“We are already seeing mega deals being negotiated and made in New York, [Los Angeles], and Chicago. They relate to Chinese money developing real estate projects in tier one cities in the U.S. Retail and consumer sectors in the U.S. will also benefit from an anticipated higher amount of travelers with a longer stay in the U.S. The world is one big connected market place, once you have more people traveling in and out of both countries for longer periods of time, closer commercial ties will follow.”

MVA misgivings
Marianas Visitors Authority managing director Perry Tenorio, however, cautioned that the new visa agreement between the U.S. and China could be to the detriment of the CNMI since it would make the U.S. mainland a competitor to the Commonwealth’s efforts to lure Chinese tourists to the islands.

“While this won’t affect us in the CNMI, it makes the mainland U.S. more of a competitor for us as it will boost the number of repeaters traveling to the U.S. from China, and opens up the U.S. even further to Chinese middle-class travelers that are able to travel beyond the gateways on repeat trips.”

Tenorio said the agreement is also separate from the parole authority to the CNMI as granted to Chinese and Russian nationals by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

“Chinese and Russian visitors can still enter the CNMI without a visa, making access to our islands much easier.”

Sablan emphasized this competitive advantage of the CNMI and said that the islands’ cheaper travel packages could serve it in good stead in the future.

“Of course, our greatest asset with respect to China at present is that tourists from that country can enter the Northern Marianas without any visa at all. And, according to the White House, potential Chinese tourists rate ease of visa policies, behind only cost, as the determining factor in where they travel. Even with the new, longer-term visas the Commonwealth retains that competitive advantage over the rest of the U.S. But, as China and our nation continue to ease travel restrictions, the challenge for the Commonwealth will be to keep finding ways to make our islands a good value and a great vacation destination for Chinese tourists,” he said.

The reciprocal visa validity agreement extends the validity of short-term tourist and business visas issued to Chinese citizens traveling to the United States from one to 10 years—the longest validity possible under U.S. law. It also increases the validity of student and exchange visas from one to five years. The deal also applies to Americans traveling to China.

Tourists from China now comprise the largest group of visitors to the Commonwealth, growing from just over 112,000 in 2013 to over 157,000 this year, according to Marianas Visitors Authority data.

Chinese visitors formed 36 percent of total visitor arrivals in fiscal year2014, which is a 40-percent increase compared to the same period in 2013.