Parole status for some alien workers, students extended

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials announced yesterday an extension of parole for certain foreign workers in the CNMI up to Jan. 31, 2012, and a grant of parole for students turning 18 “this school year” whose parents will be applied for a transitional worker status.

A valid parole is needed so that paroled foreign workers-mostly without CNMI-issued umbrella permits-will continue to have a lawful status in the CNMI while their CW petitions are still pending even after Nov. 27.

That is why USCIS is advising all those paroled into the CNMI and whose arrival-departure record, Form I-94, has expired or is expiring on or before Nov. 27, to apply with USCIS for an extension of their parole to Jan. 31, 2012.

There is no fee for this parole extension application.

The worker applies for parole extension, not the employer.

USCIS district director David Gulick, in a news briefing, said parole will be extended to Jan. 31, 2012, because USCIS believes that by that time, these workers will already get their CW status.

Gulick, however, said parole could be further extended if their CW applications have not been decided yet by Jan. 31, 2012.

“But we’re optimistic,” Gulick told reporters at the USCIS Application Service Center in Garapan yesterday afternoon.

USCIS regional media manager Marie Therese Sebrechts and Gulick also spoke about benefits for widows/widowers of deceased U.S. citizens, and dispelled myths or rumors about the CW status and other immigration issues.

They also distributed packets containing information on how to apply for a parole extension for workers and students turning 18 this school year, and how to avail of benefits for widows/widowers of deceased U.S. citizens.

Gulick and Sebrechts’ news briefing came after USCIS conducted 43 outreach sessions on the final CW rule.

Sebrechts said almost 4,000 participants attended those outreach sessions on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.

“It’s been very successful. Our numbers were overwhelming, and all the questions were about CW status in the beginning. There’s obviously a learning curve because toward the end, questions started becoming more detailed about situations beyond the CW transitional workers,” Sebrechts told reporters.

Parole extension

USCIS’ extension of parole does not include those who have been paroled into the United States solely as tourists.

Russian and Chinese visitors who have been paroled into the CNMI solely as tourists are not eligible for extension of parole.

Those who need to apply for an extension of their parole, in general, have a “parole-in-place” document attached to their passports and do not have CNMI-issued umbrella permits.

Foreign workers with CNMI umbrella permits are not eligible to request for an extension because this is not for first-time parole-in-place.

These umbrella permit holders will continue to be considered having lawful status while their CW application is pending by Nov. 27.

Those who need to apply for parole extension need to submit the following: a letter of affidavit signed by the person requesting extension; a copy of a valid identity documents such as the passport page with the photo, date of birth and expiration date; a copy of the requester’s I-94; a copy of one’s umbrella permit (if he/she has one); and a letter from the worker’s employer verifying the latter’s intention to continue the worker’s employment.

All these documents need to be sealed in one envelope and have these clearly written on the outside of the envelope: Your name; “PAROLE EXTENSION”; and the expiration date of your parole.

Keep copies of these documents for yourself.

If the worker applying for parole extension is on Saipan, he or she can drop off the parole extension request at the USCIS Office on Saipan.

When you drop off your request at the USCIS Office, no one will be available to answer questions about it, unless you have an InfoPass appointment.

If the requester is on Rota or Tinian, the application for parole extension must be mailed to: DHS-USCIS, Sirena Plaza Suite 100, 108 Hernan Cortez Avenue, Hagatna, Guam 96910, ATTN: PAROLE EXTENSION – CNMI.”

Not for travel

Parole of individuals in this situation does not include travel to any part of the United States.

This is different from advance parole, which is an advance permission that USCIS grants to leave the CNMI for a foreign place and return to the CNMI to be paroled back in.

Advance parole is no longer valid for a parole back into the CNMI once expired.

“If a foreign worker still wishes to travel and be paroled back into the CNMI, he or she must obtain a new advance parole,” USCIS said.

Parole for certain students

Sebrechts said that in the course of USCIS’ outreach sessions, another thing came up concerning students turning 18 this school year and whose foreign worker parents will be the beneficiary of an employer’s petition for a CW status.

USCIS may be able to grant parole to the child so that the child can finish the school year in legal status.

“We were able to exercise some discretion here on that, thanks to Dave Gulick and to our attorney Phil Busch, we are going to have a situation where we allow these students to apply for parole in order to finish secondary school,” she said.

USCIS will also consider granting parole for secondary/high school students who are actively attending classes before Nov. 27, 2011, and are already or will turn 18 this school year.

Only those children of CW-1 workers who are 18 years old or are 17 years old and will be turning 18 this school year, and who are studying in a secondary or high school in the CNMI, can apply for parole.

Benefits for widows/widowers

Sebrechts and Gulick said if one is a widow or widower of a U.S. citizen in the CNMI who died before Oct. 28, 2009, he or she must be aware that he or she may be able to obtain his/her green card under U.S. immigration law.

This is something that is available throughout the U.S., not only in the CNMI.

Widows/widowers of citizens who died before Oct. 28, 2009, but who did not have a Form I-130 petition for alien relative pending on Oct. 28, 2009, have until Oct. 28, 2011, to file a Form I-360 petition for Amerasian, widow(er) or special immigrant, for themselves and their unmarried minor children.