Grace period eyed for CW renewals

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is proposing that Commonwealth-only workers be allowed to continue working for up to 240 days or eight months while their CW permit renewal applications are being processed. For many in the CNMI, the proposed relief came “too late” after being forced to stop working for several weeks and months.
DHS’ proposed rule will be published as early as this week in the Federal Register, and the public is asked to comment on it.

The proposed rule will be available at www.regulations.gov.

This also comes some one-and-a-half years since three of the CNMI’s biggest business and employer groups asked DHS’ U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to allow continuing employment for CWs whose permit renewals remain pending past the expiration of their original permits.

“We were told to stop working since about middle of March because our CW permits already expired and our renewal applications were still pending. It’s only this week we’re told that we can go back to work because the [renewal] applications were approved. We couldn’t do anything about it,” one affected employee told Saipan Tribune yesterday.
The hotel employee said it’s unfortunate that the proposal that DHS announced yesterday came “too late” for him and many other CWs. The employee requested anonymity, fearing retaliation from his employer.

Last year, for example, a security agency had to order many of its employees to stop working for three months because their CW renewal permits took much longer to process.

For others, DHS’ proposed rule would still be helpful especially if the CW program is extended beyond Dec. 31, 2014.
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP), in a statement yesterday, said many of the employers and workers who go to his office for help are caught in this bind.

“They have applied for renewal, but the paperwork has not been completed. Then, the current CW permit expires. Employers in this predicament cannot hire someone, knowing that in a week or two, their current employee may be approved. So the business has to limp along short-staffed,” Sablan said.

Employees are legally barred from working once their CW status expires, even if there is an application pending.
“So how do they feed themselves and pay their bills? Providing a grace period, as DHS is proposing, seems to make sense,” Sablan said.

‘Permanent structure’

Alex Sablan, president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday that the 240-day grace period for CW permit application processing is “welcome news” and “definitely a permanent structure needed to ensure the CW workforce is not penalized waiting on CW renewal applications to be processed.”

“This ensures businesses are not unduly interrupted in their daily operations providing services to tourists and the community at large and, as important, that we not impact badly needed tax dollars that support essential services of the CNMI government and its residents,” the Chamber president said when sought for comment.

He said the Chamber will comment on DHS’ proposed regulations once published in the Federal Register.

Employing US citizens

Delegate Sablan said he would be concerned, however, if employers would use the grace period as an excuse to wait until the last minute to apply for a renewal or that DHS would take its time making decisions, knowing they have 240 days.

“Ultimately, too, we have to ask: how does this affect local workers who are looking for jobs? We have to be sensitive to the needs of business. We have to be compassionate about foreign workers whose efforts help our community. But we also have to keep up the pressure to employ locals wherever possible,” Sablan said.

The delegate said they will have to see exactly what the proposed rule says and then what comment comes in from the public before making any final assessment.

“We also cannot permit any change that would allow employers to file for renewals after a permit expires,” he added.
The Chamber of Commerce president said they agree with the delegate’s statement on continuing to encourage “employers—members or not—to employ a U.S. citizen workforce where ever possible.”

“It is imperative that everyone that can remain in the CNMI do so, as our impending tourism boom will require every able-bodied person in the CNMI to remain here and join the ranks of the local workforce, to help grow our economy,” Alex Sablan said.

Besides the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, the Northern Marianas Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management, and the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands asked USCIS as early as 2012 to authorize continuing employment for those with pending CW renewal applications.

SHRM, when sought for comment yesterday, said it strongly supports the 240-day grace period but at the same time recognizes the possibility of abuse and will stress the importance of timely actions among its members.

“With regard to the possible effect on the employment of local workers, SHRM would like to point out that in 2012 and 2013, it successfully managed two federal grants that involved the training and placement of U.S. qualified workers. The Society’s management team succeeded in placing roughly 80 percent of the participants through the cooperation and support of its member companies. These grant programs were a benefit to the community and SHRM is proud of its involvement. They should have been continued and SHRM is prepared to do so if additional grant funding is available,” SHRM added.

‘Creating hardships’

SHRM said the cut-off of the employee’s authorization to work immediately upon the end of the visa period has created a “hardship for both businesses and employees from the first visa extension period.”

“Even when the employer submits the petition well in advance, the processing time often goes beyond the visa end-date, especially if there is a request for additional information before approval of the extension,” SHRM told Saipan Tribune.

It said this problem was recognized early and brought to USCIS’ attention “with no previous effect.”
“The lack of flexibility in this situation has left businesses without valuable employees and those employees without income until it was resolved—often for several months. This long overdue adjustment to the regulation is both practical and humane,” SHRM said.

‘Still in limbo’

SHRM also said this grace period will simply be a positive adjustment to an ongoing, unresolved problem.
“The CW visa program is still in limbo and this action does not change that. However, the SHRM Chapter appreciates this step and sees it as a positive action that will benefit the community’s businesses and employees, as well as the tourists and citizens that they serve. SHRM looks forward to continued growth of the CNMI economy and a need and a future for increased local employment with a continuing requirement for non-U.S. workers,” it added.
U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez has yet to make public his decision whether to extend or not the CW program beyond Dec. 31, 2014.

Without such an extension, the CNMI loses immediate access to some 10,000 foreign workers that have helped build and run the local economy for years and decades.

Gov. Eloy S. Inos is considering writing a follow-up request letter to the U.S. Labor secretary to extend the CW program by five years or up to 2019.

Nationwide

The delegate said yesterday that the DHS proposal is nationwide in scope.
In addition to the Commonwealth-only CW status, Sablan said, the 240-day grace period would also apply to high-skilled, specialty occupation professionals from Australia, who have E-3 visas, and from Chile and Singapore, who have H-1B1 visas.

He said several nonimmigrant categories already allow workers to continue for 240 days while their renewals are in process, including H-1 temporary workers and H-2A seasonal agricultural workers.

DHS will also be proposing that the spouses of H-1B visa holders be allowed to work in the United States. H-1B visas are provided to scientists, engineers, computer programmers, and other specialists.

Employers will often petition for H-1B workers to obtain green cards and become lawful permanent residents. The proposed rule would allow the spouses to work, once the petition for a green card is filed, Sablan said.