New sponsorship regs take effect Monday

Finding the qualifications earlier proposed as discriminatory, the Attorney General’s Office has come up with a new, simpler set of requirements for nonresident workers who sponsor the entry of aliens to the CNMI.

The new policy, which becomes effective on Monday, states three ways by which a nonresident worker can prove his ability to sponsor an alien.

First, a sponsor may pay a $1,500 cash bond to the Department of Treasury. The bond will be returned to the sponsor as soon as he presents proof that the visitor has departed the Commonwealth as scheduled.

Another way is by providing proof that the sponsor, or the visitor, is currently employed and earns over $20,000 a year.

Further, a sponsor may present proof that he has maintained a minimum balance of $3,000 in a CNMI bank account for a period of at least three months before the expected date of arrival of the visitor.

Citing widespread abuse of the sponsorship program, the attorney general last month proposed stringent requirements for guest workers serving as sponsors for visitor entry permit.

The proposal would have allowed nonresident workers to sponsor only two applicants at any given time.

Also, potential sponsors would have been required to present proof that he has not been found in violation of prior sponsorships; has sufficient financial resources to support the visitor during his or her entire stay; is willing to pay the costs of the visitor’s stay, if necessary; will reimburse the CNMI government for deportation expenses; and will assist the Division of Immigration should the visitor violate any condition of entry or any U.S. or local law.

But in a public notice published in the Feb. 17, 2005 edition of the Commonwealth Register, the AGO said it decided not to adopt the proposal, as “this could be construed as unfairly selective.”

“As proposed, Section 703(D)(3) [of the Immigration Rules and Regulations] treats nonresident workers serving as sponsors for visitor entry permit differently from other potential sponsors, imposing additional burdens and limitations,” the AGO said. “However, there remains a need for an effective mechanism for holding sponsors accountable when the aliens they have sponsored become illegal.”

The attorney general said it is for this reason that it defined the three forms in which alien workers may display their ability to sponsor visitors.

Also taking effect on Feb. 28 is an amended and restated version of the Comprehensive Immigration Regulations, which replaces the policy initially adopted on July 22, 1985.