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USCIS gets first CW petitions
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Posted on Oct 17 2011
CNMI employers have started filing their Commonwealth-only worker petitions, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services regional media manager Marie Thérèse Sebrechts said during the weekend.
“USCIS received the first CW petitions at the California Service Center on the first day they could be submitted. Of course, we have no way to anticipate if or when there will be a surge,” Sebrechts said.
The first day of filing CW petitions was Oct. 7.
In the few weeks after the release of the final worker rule on Sept. 7, employers have started posting job vacancy announcements for positions filled by foreign workers.
The job vacancy announcements are meant to encourage qualified and available U.S. workers to apply for these foreign worker-held positions.
Employers need proof, including job vacancy announcements, to attest that there were no qualified U.S. workers for the position so they are petitioning their foreign worker for a CW status.
Without CW petitions filed on behalf of them, nonresidents lose their status after Nov. 27 and could face deportation.
But many nonresidents are still hoping that the Nov. 27 deadline for them to find employment will be extended.
However, the two-year date from the start of the transition period is a matter of statute, found in the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 or Public Law 110-229 which placed CNMI immigration under federal control.
“There is no provision in the CNRA to move to a later date,” said Sebrecths.
There is also currently nothing in the U.S. Congress being considered to extend the Nov. 27 deadline.
Interior assistant secretary for insular areas Tony Babauta also said there’s currently no legislation that considers the U.S. Department of the Interior’s April 2010 recommendation to grant long-term foreign workers in the CNMI an improved immigration status. Gov. Benigno R. Fitial also said nonresidents should stop hoping that they will be given improved status.
