USCIS: CW application process, fees unchanged

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the process or fee for the transitional Commonwealth-only worker program remains the same, even after its extension up to 2019. Employers continue to seek clarification, mostly on whether the CW permit expiration of Dec. 31, 2014, can be automatically extended to the original anniversary date.

While the CW program has been extended by five years, this does not mean that a new CW permit will be valid for the whole five years.

“That’s one of the things we want to clarify. Is a CW permit valid for five years?” asked Gary Malit, general manager at Island Manpower and Island Construction.

Marie Thérèse Sebrechts, USCIS supervisory public affairs officer, said that once the U.S. Department of Labor notice is published, “USCIS will resume approving CW-1 status in increments of up to one year ‘if’ the petitioner already requested a date beyond 12-31-14 on the un-adjudicated Form I-129CW, and ‘if’ the petition is otherwise eligible.”

“There are no changes to the application process or fees for the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker [CW] Program,” Sebrechts said, responding to Saipan Tribune questions.

Sebrechts said employers “must still file Form I-129CW.”

“Also, the timetable for petitioning remains the same. Employers may file Form I-129CW up to six months in advance. We encourage employers to file as soon as possible within that time frame to prevent gaps in employment authorization,” she said.

This also means the annual $150 fee paid by employers for each foreign worker they hire remains the same.

Malit said he’s glad that the CW application process remains the same, because CNMI employers are now familiar with that process.

“And if employers can still file a petition six months in advance, then that means those expiring on Dec. 31, 2014 can apply now? And so that means if a CW permit is approved, the new expiration date will be Dec. 31, 2015?” he asked.

Rene Reyes, operations manager of Gold Crown Manpower, also said yesterday they are still hoping that those whose original permits are supposed to expire beyond Dec. 31, 2014, will be “given automatic extension without additional fees.”

Malou Ernest, SPHR, GPHR, said they have also been seeking clarification about the CW renewal process now that the program has been extended.

“We need guidance,” said Ernest, human resources director for Tan Holdings’ Century Tours.

Ernest said they also would like to find out the new cap on the number of CW permits for 2015.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security set a numerical limit of 14,000 CW-1s for 2014. This is a 6.66-percent decrease from the 2013 cap of 15,000.

The number of CW permits still has to go down every year until it reaches “zero” at the end of the transition period, which is now Dec. 31, 2019, instead of Dec. 31, 2014.

U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez granted last week the CNMI’s request to extend the transitional CW program by five years, saying it would “enable CNMI’s legitimate businesses to meet their current and near-term future workforce needs.”

At the same time, Perez asked the CNMI to provide yearly updates, starting in April 2015, “documenting your good faith efforts to locate, educate, train or otherwise prepare U.S. citizens and other lawful permanent residents for jobs.”

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) expects Perez’s decision to be in the Federal Register in the next few days.

This comes a few weeks ahead of a July 4 deadline to decide on any extension.

Without Perez’s extension decision, the CNMI would have lost immediate access to some 10,000 skilled and professional foreign workers that the Commonwealth still needs, given that it still does not have sufficient U.S. labor pool.

Gov. Eloy S. Inos Inos said he will take “all necessary steps to effectively train and prepare U.S. citizens and other lawful permanent residents to meet the workforce needs of legitimate businesses in the CNMI.”

Foreign workers do not necessarily have to exit the CNMI after the CW program expires. If they qualify for an H visa, for example, their employer could now start applying that visa for them.

Meanwhile, DHS is seeking comments to its proposal that CW-1s be allowed to continue working for up to 240 days or eight months while their CW permit renewal applications are being processed. Many in the CNMI welcome the 240-day grace period, especially given the previous experiences of CW workers who had to stop working for weeks and months and mostly with no pay while their CW renewals were still under process, even though the delay was not their fault.