Hawaii rallies behind CNMI, Guam for visa waiver

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Guam Gov. Eddie B. Calvo’s continued push for a CNMI-Guam Visa Waiver program for Chinese and Russian tourists got a big boost this past weekend in Washington, D.C. after Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie signaled his full support for the idea.

In addition to the National Governors Association winter meeting, the Western Governors Association, encompassing the western states and territories, were hosted by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at his conference room for their winter meeting as well. Along with Vilsack, other ranking officials who joined the western governors included Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, and Nancy Sutley, chairperson of President Obama’s Council on Environmental Quality.

While there was widespread discussion on broader issues affecting the western states, Hawaii joined the CNMI and Guam in drawing focus on the need for a visa waiver program that would open the doors to potentially millions of Chinese and Russian tourists and businesses. In fact, Abercrombie wants to see the waiver expanded to include Hawaii. He also said enacting such a unique and isolated waiver program in Hawaii, Guam, and the CNMI would give the Department of Homeland Security the opportunity it needs to establish a template that could later be applied to other states.

Fitial agreed and noted that at any time down the line DHS feels that the waiver program is not working, the agency can simply terminate it. Fitial, along with Calvo and Abercrombie, urged the federal government to put a stop to the “waiting game” because millions, or perhaps billions of dollars in potential tourism revenue is being lost the longer DHS takes “just thinking about it.”

While short of a visa waiver program, the CNMI currently benefits from DHS’ parole authority system that allows tourists from China and Russia to travel to the Commonwealth for a maximum of 45 days. Just this past January, DHS extended the same type of parole to Guam, but only for Russian tourists. Still, the absence of a visa waiver program continues to discourage throngs of travelers from visiting the Marianas region.

The efforts of the governors on the visa waiver issue resulted in a follow-up meeting organized by Salazar at his office. This time, along with the three governors, also present were Interior Assistant Secretary Tony Babauta and Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Douglas Smith.

At this meeting, the governors argued that security and overstays should not be a barrier for the implementation of a special visa waiver for entry to the CNMI, Guam, and Hawaii.

Responding to concerns regarding security, Fitial, Calvo, and Abercrombie downplayed the legitimacy of the matter. The governors shared the same sentiment that with today’s technological advancement, opposition forces don’t need to travel to U.S. soil to tamper with the nation’s intelligence.

“That’s the cold hard truth,” said Fitial. “It’s not the Chinese vacationer on the islands that poses a threat, rather we should worry more about the computer-savvy terrorist sitting at home somewhere in the Middle East trying to compromise American intelligence with his laptop.”

As for the concern that visa-waived tourists may enter the islands and overstay, Abercrombie countered this argument by pointing out that the islands are surrounded by ocean and unlike in the contiguous states, an overstayer wouldn’t have the ability to get in a car and drive four or five states over.

Fitial was very much appreciative of the support of Calvo and Abercrombie. “Obviously, this is a big deal for the three of us because we share the same economic challenges.” added Fitial. “As you can see, we all want nothing more than to improve the livelihood of our people and our economies. Since we all come from pristine island destinations, we know for a fact that the visa waiver program will translate to billions of dollar and most importantly, will serve as the leading force in resurrecting our island economies.” (Office of the Governor)