‘Foreign businessmen, students must have US visas to return to NMI’

Foreign businessmen and students in the CNMI can go out of the Commonwealth on or after June 1, 2009, but when they come back they must have U.S. visas, according to local Immigration Director Melvin Grey yesterday.

Grey also disclosed to Saipan Tribune that his office received a lot of calls from alien workers and employers inquiring about the issue after he posted a public notice on Tuesday about the situation when the federalization law takes effect on June 1.

Grey said officials of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were in the CNMI last week and had three separate meetings with the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, the Legislature, and the public.

The director said that in those meetings and during personal side conversations with the federal officials, they discussed the direction the federal agencies are going and what they expect to happen on or after June 1.

“Entry permits will be recognized as valid as long as you remain within the CNMI. If you are outside the CNMI on or after June 1st and you want to come back, you have to come back with a U.S. visa. And then you have to come in and comply with the conditions of that visa,” Grey said.

“So if you are a businessman or any other person who is here on a CNMI status, if you also have a U.S. visitor’s visa classifications B1 or B2 and you are outside, you can come back in the CNMI using that visa but you can’t resume your CNMI status because that visa is for tourists and you will be working without authorization, subject to deportation,” he said.

As for alien workers who need to go out of the CNMI for medical purposes, to attend important family functions, or burials, Grey said they brought up all these issues with the federal agencies, including the situation of those having Immediate Relative status.

“But the feds did not accommodate us,” Grey said.

In all those three meetings, he said, those issues were raised and the responses were the same.

“People are now saying, ‘Are you serious? Do you realize what that means?’ Businessmen can’t go out. And somebody specifically asked about the status of students. Students can go home, yes, anybody can depart but when they come back they have to have a U.S. visa,” Grey said.

“So a businessman going out, when the CNMI status goes out, once he comes back on hisU.S visitors visa, he is a tourist,” he said.

Grey said they also told federal officials about the significant impact on airlines since alien workers will not be going home for short trips.

“We told them, you;ve got to stop and think about this. This has ripple effects as they implement this stuff. We raised all these issues. And the response we get is ‘Well, this is the way it is,’” the director said.