‘Biggest touchback impact in Dec.’

Officers of the Rotary Club of Saipan present a plaque of appreciation to CNMI Department of Labor Secretary Leila Staffler after DOL made a presentation during a meeting Tuesday at Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan in Garapan. (CHRYSTAL MARINO)

Despite the many unknowns the CNMI Department of Labor faces when it comes to the foreign worker situation in the CNMI, Labor Secretary Leila Staffler says they expect the highest number of departures this September, but the biggest impacts of the “touchback” rule will be felt in December.

Speaking at the Rotary Club of Saipan meeting last Tuesday at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan in Garapan, Staffler said that, based on the survey the department did on CNMI businesses that would be affected by the “touchback” rule, September will see the highest departures in the business sectors of health and human services, construction and skilled labor, and hospitality, and a quarter of businesses shared that they will be moderately impacted but the vast majority will experience major effects.

“December is when you will see the biggest jump of the touchback effects.” Staffler said.

Currently, any foreign employee in the CNMI—called a CW-1 visa holder—whose work visa has already been renewed twice must leave the CNMI while their work visa is being renewed for a third time and will only be allowed to return once their third CW-1 visa is approved. This requirement, which will take effect this Sept. 30, 2023, is called the “touchback” rule.

What complicates matters for the CNMI Department of Labor is that the agency that handles the CW-1 visas for the CNMI’s foreign workers, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, does not talk to CNMI DOL.

“I’ve been trying. They will not talk to me. So I don’t know a lot of the questions that you guys want to know,” she said. “It’s very hard for me to do my job if I don’t know these numbers.”

Even the U.S. Department of Labor doesn’t have the numbers, she said. “The Department of Labor has nothing to do with the approval of the CW process. Nothing. They’re two separate entities and they don’t talk to each other.”

What Staffler said she can report is that between the start of the year and June, “we had a total of 2,014 [job vacancy announcements] and with those JVA there are 7,000 openings,” she said.

In a chart Staffler shared showing the number of CWA-1 JVAs and job openings, it showed that, from January to June 29, 2023, there were 5,892 new job openings, and 1,462 renewal job openings, for a total of 7,354.

And because CNMI DOL cannot communicate with USCIS, Staffler said her department doesn’t know a lot about the important numbers and statistics, and many times can’t answer public questions such as how many CW workers are in the CNMI, when are their expiration dates, how many are required to touch back due to U.S. Public Law 115-218, which industries will have the most touchback departures, how this affects the CNMI economy, and whether or not U.S. Congress will make exceptions or change the law.

Staffler warned, though, that the current environment in the U.S. Congress “is not very friendly to immigration and these kinds of laws are what are in place and I don’t see them changing anytime soon.”

Although most of the foreign workers who will be leaving want to come back, she warned “Don’t expect a lot of change. The way that the atmosphere is in the U.S. Congress is not going to change. If you haven’t made an effort to find new workers now, you will be in a bad place later. If you don’t do something, you have to find a way. Get U.S. workers on your teams, take advantage of programs. Or start recruiting because they’re not going to change the law in this short amount of time.”

In trying to get an idea around the CW-1 numbers, Staffler said that CNMI DOL conducted a survey, but sadly only received 18 responses.

Staffler was joined at the meeting by members of the CNMI Department of Labor as the first guest speakers for the Rotary year 2023-2024.

This was also the first the Rotary Club of Saipan held its weekly meeting at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan. They used to meet at the Hyatt Regency Saipan.