Citizenship and Immigration Services officials to meet with Tinian chamber

How does the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services intend to process approximately 2,000 applications from Tinian when there is no office on the island? This is one of the critical issues that the Tinian Chamber of Commerce will raise with two USCIS officials on Friday.

Walter Haith, field office director of Guam/CNMI USCIS, and Fred Ongcapin, adjudications officer of the USCIS Policy and Regulation Management, will be the guest speakers at the Chamber’s monthly membership meeting.

The Chamber meeting is set for April 3 at the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino’s Tinian Banquet Room, from 11am to 12pm.

Phillip Mendiola-Long, president of the Tinian Chamber of Commerce, said the members are eager to hear from the USCIS officials on several issues, including the processing of some 2,000 applications from Tinian when there is no office on island.

The other critical policy issues that the group wants the USCIS officials to discuss are status changes and immigration options for CNMI immediate relatives, policy considerations for foreign investors, a brief description of what the expected job categories for the CNMI-only transitional worker program will be, and the impact, if any, of the prevailing versus actual wage rates on the importation of labor.

Mendiola-Long said members of the Tinian Chamber are thankful that USCIS has accepted their invitation to speak to the Tinian business community and private citizens.

“We intend to use this platform as an opportunity to share our experiences with USCIS so that they can see first hand the challenges that people on the outer islands face and the extreme financial hardships we endure. At the very least, the people of Tinian have been given the rightful opportunity to be heard and we thank USCIS for coming out and hearing us,” Mendiola-Long said in a statement yesterday.

The meeting is open to the public.

The event is paid for by members of the Tinian Chamber of Commerce, while non-Chamber members will be charged a nominal fee of $5 to cover the rental of the banquet room and refreshments offered during the presentation.

The Tinian Chamber of Commerce now has 37 members, from only 19 when it was revived in February. The group said it will be the voice of businesses on Tinian on issues such as the impact of a federal immigration system on the economy, the consequences of military activities, and capital improvement projects on the island.