CNMI grapples with options to keep key foreign workers

Only about 1 percent of the estimated 10,000 foreign workers in the CNMI were applied for and were granted H visas in the 52 months since late 2009, but officials hope that the five-year extension of the CW program will be used not only to train U.S. workers but also to transition valuable and qualified CW workers into nonimmigrant or immigrant visa classifications available under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Most employers have continued to rely on the CW program even for positions that could qualify for H1B visas, for example. And only a few have since applied for H visas for their qualified workers.

“When the transition period started, we were under the impression that professional workers who qualify for H visas will be rejected if they applied for a CW permit so as early as late 2009, we started applying for H visas for our elementary and high school teachers. We got approved for H visas,” an executive of a popular private school on Saipan told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

The official said these teachers have been valuable to the school, where they have worked for over 10 years.

Because they are an educational institution, the school spent only $850 for each of the H1B visa, which is valid for three years, the official said.

This is much cheaper than the initial and renewal application for a CW permit in a three-year period.

But the private school is now having difficulty renewing the H1B visas of these teachers because of a lack of a “current” and “valid” prevailing wage survey that’s needed for the foreign labor certification as part of the renewal process.

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce was not able to obtain a grant this time from the U.S. Department of the Interior to update their 2011 prevailing wage survey. As of yesterday, the CNMI Department of Commerce has yet to initiate any survey.

“If we use the Guam prevailing wage survey, their rates are much higher than the CNMI’s. We hope that the CNMI government would do something to have a new prevailing wage survey,” the school official said.

Alex Sablan, president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, said that businesses’ H visa applications are being denied because of a lack of a current prevailing wage survey.

From Nov. 28, 2009, to March 31, 2014, there were 230 applications for H1B and H2B visas from CNMI employers, data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shows.

Of these H visa applications, 136 or 59 percent were approved; 79 applications were denied.

Of the 136 approved, 135 were for H1B visas and only one for H2B visas.

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP), in a separate interview, said the CNMI could see a spike in the number of H2B visa applications because of construction projects.

He said CW permit holders in the construction business will still be able to continue to work, but only until Dec. 31, 2019, the new expiration date for the CW program.

Sablan, however, said he’s “not going to tell employers what to do.”

Employers are wary not only about the application process but also the cost of an H visa application, which could reach $3,000 per worker. However, compared to a CW permit that’s valid for only a year, an H visa is valid for multiple years and could be renewed way beyond 2019.

Gov. Eloy S. Inos has repeatedly said that employers always have the option to apply for an H visa for their qualified foreign workers, and that the five-year extension of the CW program will allow them to transition these employees into these visa categories.

Department of Public Works Secretary Martin Sablan also touted the importance of skilled and professional foreign workers in completing DPW projects on the islands.

Juan “Pan” Guerrero, general manager of Herman’s Modern Bakery, Inc., said CNMI employers have to “explore all possibilities to be able to retain our valuable, key foreign employees.”

Guerrero said the CNMI’s biggest and oldest existing bakery has trained and hired U.S. workers and interns, only to lose most of them in a month. He said their “key” employees at the bakery are under the CW program and it’s a challenge to keep them beyond 2019.

“While baking is not the most complicated job, our employees know the dynamics and know every aspect of the business. Now we have to see which visa we can apply for them. They need to meet the educational, training, and experience requirements but you see, what do federal agencies know about the CNMI? We don’t have a choice,” he told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

Guerrero said the CNMI also has the most expensive shipment costs for most commodities from the U.S.

“To ship one container of flour, you need at least $7,000,” he added.

Foreign workers in the CNMI include nurses, engineers, architects, teachers, journalists, certified public accountants, technicians, mechanics, electricians, construction workers, hotel and restaurant workers, caregivers, house helpers and farmers, among other professions.

With an improving economy and major construction projects in the pipeline, the number of available and qualified U.S. workers is still not enough to sustain the CNMI economy, thus the continued need for skilled and professional foreign workers.

Immigration reform, Obama action

Sablan remains optimistic that within five years, a national immigration reform bill will pass the U.S. Congress. If that doesn’t happen, he said, President Barack Obama can use his executive authority on immigration reform as he has been hinting at.

The delegate cited Obama’s latest memorandum directing the Education secretary to propose regulations that would allow nearly five million federal direct student loan borrowers the opportunity to cap their student loan payments at 10 percent of their income.

“I am very convinced that if Speaker [John] Boehner were to put immigration bill on the floor for a vote, it will pass,” Sablan added, referring to S. 744, H.R. 15 or any other immigration reform bills.

Both S. 744 and H.R. 15 grant a pathway to citizenship to some 11 million undocumented aliens in the United States. They also have CNMI-specific provisions giving legal, long-term foreign workers in the CNMI a chance to apply for improved immigration status such as “green card,” pathway to citizenship. S. 744 passed the U.S. Senate about a year ago, but has yet to pass the GOP-controlled House.