Long lines at US post office

If you are thinking of sending or receiving regular mail or package at the post office in Chalan Kanoa, scrap any thought that it will be a quick duck-in and duck-out trip.

Hundreds have been patiently lining up at the post office in the past few days, mostly those beating the Nov. 27 deadline for filing parole requests or Commonwealth-only worker status petitions with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Guam or California.

Teddy de Luna, 48, was one of those lining up at the post office to mail his request for parole with USCIS, hoping he could be given legal status to remain in the CNMI after Nov. 27, while he applies for a “green card.”

“I didn’t expect that this day will come, when we could lose our status to stay here,” de Luna said in an interview while in line.

He and his U.S. citizen wife got married in 1991 but they have not filed a “green card” for him until now. If he doesn’t request for parole by Nov. 27, he could lose status to remain in the CNMI. He said even a two-month parole will be a big help to raise some $2,000 for his green card application.

Edison Serrano, 44, said he had been undecided for a long time whether he would file a parole request or wait until he finds an employer, based on advice he had been getting from different individuals and experts.

“So now I am here. I’m trying my luck that I could get parole,” he said, falling in line past 1pm and not expecting to reach the post office counter until after 2pm because of the long line.

Customs agent Joe Santos, stationed at the post office in Chalan Kanoa, said he has never seen such long lines at the post office in his nine years with Customs Services Division.

He said a lot of people have already lined up outside the post office before the regular opening at 8:30am, and long after the regular closing hours of 4pm.

“My question is, why did they wait this long to send requests?” Santos said.

Loida Oliver, 51, said she’s filing a request for parole with USCIS so she could be with her U.S. citizen child beyond Nov. 27. She has not had a job for years to take care of her U.S. citizen child who has a disability. She came to Saipan in 1991 to work as a house worker.

Oliver said she and her common-law husband have not been married, so she couldn’t be petitioned for a CW-2 status. She said her only hope is to be granted parole that will allow her to stay in the CNMI, and hopefully until Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan’s (Ind-MP) HR 1466 becomes law. The bill grants CNMI-only resident status to four groups of aliens, including parents of U.S. citizen children.

Md. Masud Rana, 41, was also in line at the post office to buy $1,595 worth of money order for his green card application, which he also intended to file yesterday.

He said he will stay in line no matter how long it takes. Rana came to Saipan in 1995 to work as a sales agent. He just got married this month to a U.S. citizen and they immediately worked on his green card application.

Also trapped in the long line were those sending mails or packages and those claiming packages, among others.

Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan (Ind-MP) requested the U.S. Postal Service to extend the retail operating hours at its Chalan Kanoa branch on Saipan through the evening of Nov. 28, 2011, owing to the Nov. 27 deadline for filing CW petitions and parole requests

USPS granted Sablan’s request, based on a Nov. 21 letter from acting manager of Post Office Operations-Honolulu District Gregory Kawasaki.

The extended retail operating hours will start today and end on Monday night.

Today and Friday’s operating hours will be extended by one hour. The retail lobby will close at 5pm rather than the normal closing hour of 4pm.

USPS will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving holiday.

On Saturday, Nov. 26, post office hours will be extended by four hours. Instead of closing at 12pm, they will close at 4pm.

Post offices are closed on Sundays.

On Monday, Nov. 28, the post office will have a two-hour extension. The retail lobby will close at 6pm rather than 4pm.

“You have my assurance that all mail deposited by midnight, Nov. 28, 2011, will receive a Nov. 28, 2011, postmark,” USPS’s Kawasaki told Sablan.

Kawasaki also encouraged foreign workers to use the retail services of USPS’ two contract postal units on Capital Hill and San Vicente.

The Capital Hill unit is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 3pm, and Saturday from 9am to 12pm.

The San Vicente unit is open from 12pm to 5pm, and Saturday from 12pm to 3pm.