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IPI gets over 1,044 H2B visas
While Guam has been having a hard time acquiring H2B visas, one of the biggest companies in the CNMI, Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LCC succeeded in acquiring labor certifications from the U.S. Department of Labor late last year.
Saipan Tribune learned of the approved labor certifications from the website of the USDOL, which is open to the public.
A source said the CNMI Department of Labor has been notified and that these labor certifications have been submitted to U.S. Citizen Immigration Services, which in turn has approved the visas.
Saipan Tribune contacted Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente yesterday but she hasn’t responded as of press time.
Saipan Tribune learned that the law firm responsible for the H2B petitions is the Hasselback Law Office LLC. Saipan Tribune also contacted Hasselback but he hasn’t responded as of press time.
The arrival of these H2B visa holders is a big development in the current labor situation of IPI as the company expressly said in the past that it still intends to open its hotel and casino in August 2018.
This development is also believed to be monumental as this is the first time in CNMI history that H2B visas of this scale was found to be in order and approved by U.S. government agencies and a good precedence to CNMI employers and corporations that plan to go the same route.
According to a CNMI lawyer who doesn’t want to be named, applications for H2B visas in Guam and the CNMI were stopped due to an ongoing legal case where 99 percent of H2B applications in Guam were disapproved. This discouraged companies and immigration law firms in Guam and the CNMI to proceed again.
An H2B visa is a temporary work visa for foreign workers in non-agricultural work that is seasonal and intended for a specific project.
IPI currently is waiting for the arrival of the over 1,044 H2B workers on Saipan in the coming weeks. They are made up of 83 electrical technicians, 102 steel workers, 12 riveters, 28 construction laborer, 155 welders, 12 tower crane operators, 156 painters, 413 masons, 83 electricians, and an undisclosed number of plumbers.
