Inos to seek ‘slightly’ lower CW cap than 14,000

Gov. Eloy S. Inos said yesterday he will be recommending to the federal government “in a week or two” a new CW permit cap that is only “slightly” lower than the current limit of 14,000 to accommodate an expanding economy’s labor needs, while at the same time cautions against pushing for an immigration federalization law’s amendment to increase rather than decrease the annual CW cap.

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) separately said yesterday “this issue is not yet fully ripe for consideration.”

The law requires a reduction in the number of CW permits issued every year until the end of the CW program, which was recently extended from 2014 to 2019.

While the current cap is at 14,000, only about 12,000 CW permits have been granted. Inos said he’s hoping the difference of some 2,000 won’t represent the decrease in the CW permit quota for 2015 because of major development projects on the pipeline that would still need a lot of foreign skilled and professional workers.

“What I’m saying is, reduce it by one or two, and hold in reserve the unfilled positions and we’ll hopefully use that to accommodate each of the new development,” Inos told Saipan Tribune in an interview at the Marianas Visitors Authority’s general membership meeting yesterday.

As to whether he would seek an amendment to the Consolidated Natural Resources Act—the U.S. law that placed CNMI immigration under federal control—to raise rather than lower the annual CW cap and make a permanent foreign worker program for the CNMI, Inos said he does not want to go there yet at this point.

“It’s already an uphill battle, plus it’s just going to make it harder for us to be able to accomplish this final five-year transition program if we’re going back up there again,” he said, adding that employers can apply for an H visa for their employees, away from the CW program to address additional foreign worker needs.

But the governor conceded that the H visa is not applicable to most jobs in the CNMI because these jobs are not seasonal but year-round employment “so we need to figure out specific categories.”

The governor, like the delegate, met recently with the Saipan Chamber of Commerce on the CNMI’s current and future labor needs.

The delegate said yesterday that Chamber president Alex Sablan shared with him his views that “there are not an adequate number of CW workers in the event of rapid economic expansion—particularly relating to the tourism industry—in the Northern Mariana Islands.”

“I have not received a formal request from the Chamber yet, in this regard. And though I asked Mr. Sablan to share with me some of his data, I have yet to receive them from him. …A conversation does not constitute a plan or a request. This issue is not yet fully ripe for consideration in my view. In any event, this is a serious and complex matter that requires very careful thought and analysis,” the delegate said.

The delegate said before he could even begin to consider whether legislation to amend the current law and increase the CW cap or to create a new federal visa category is appropriate or achievable, he would need to review data from a number of sources, speak with people representing the many diverse constituencies that comprise the community with local elected officials, and consult with policy experts in Washington, D.C.

“And if, or when, all these is done, this will still need a lot of work and time to achieve,” he added.

The largest business group in the CNMI said even with the CW program’s extension up to 2019, coupled with hiring all unemployed U.S. citizens on the islands and hiring from other Micronesian islands and the U.S. mainland, the CNMI economy will still need some 5,000 additional workers by 2021.

The governor reiterated yesterday the CNMI’s push for increased training and hiring of U.S. citizens to prepare for the end of the CW program five years from now.

In September last year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a limit of 14,000 non-immigrants under the transitional CNMI-only worker program for 2014, a mere 6.66-percent cut from the 2013 cap of 15,000. The 2014 cap is close enough to what Inos had asked for—about 14,100—to accommodate the increased need for workers now that the CNMI economy is recovering, buoyed by the record number of tourist arrivals.