If CW petitions are filed after Nov. 28.

-Jobless aliens with parole cannot work until grant of status if CW is filed after Nov. 28

-1,405 CW1 workers sponsored as of Nov. 18

While aliens with either umbrella permits or have valid paroles can continue working as their Commonwealth-only worker petitions are being adjudicated, there are limited options for aliens who are still jobless by Nov. 28 or those who are employed but whose CW petitions will be filed after Nov. 28.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services regional media manager Marie Therese Sebrechts gave Saipan Tribune yesterday information related to certain nonresidents still without jobs by Nov. 28 and the filing of CW petitions after Nov. 28.

Aliens who are currently employed but whose employer file CW petitions on their behalf after Nov. 28 cannot begin work until the CW petitions are approved.

Aliens who have parole until Jan. 31, 2012, and have umbrella permits but who are still unemployed by Nov. 28 can still be petitioned for a CW permit if they find an employer after Nov. 28 and before Jan. 31, 2012. However, they also cannot work until their CW petition is approved.

Sebrechts, in responding to media inquiries, said yesterday that an alien who has parole until Jan. 31, 2012, and is not currently employed but has an umbrella permit can be petitioned by an employer after Nov. 28, 2011.

She said an alien who is lawfully present before Nov. 27, 2011, and is granted a parole extension until Jan. 31, 2012, and who does not work after Nov. 27, 2011, may be the beneficiary of a Form I-129CW filed prior to the parole expiration and can also be an applicant for a grant of status.

“The alien would not, however, be eligible for continuation of employment. Employment cannot begin until the I-129CW petition is approved and CW-1 status granted,” Sebrechts told Saipan Tribune.

USCIS district director David Gulick held another Form I-129CW session for employers yesterday from 2pm to 4pm at the American Memorial Park indoor auditorium, with only about 20 employer representatives in attendance compared to some 100 each session last week.

Gulick’s last I-129CW session will be held today, from 10am to 12pm, at the same place.

During the sessions, Gulick goes over the Form I-129CW page by page and answers questions from employers regarding the petition process and related matters.

No break in employment

Sebrechts said “it seems that most employers who intend to petition for CW-1 workers before Nov. 28 have the application packages ready to go before Nov. 28, 2011.”

“Employers who want to continue employing their current workers without a break in employment must file by Nov. 27,” Sebrechts said. “Employers may still file after that date; however, the continuing employment provision only applies to those umbrella permit holders who were filed for prior to Nov. 28.”

The Nov. 27 deadline remains as U.S. Congress didn’t initiate any move to extend the deadline before going into recess, and won’t be back in session until Nov. 29.

Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan said there’s no chance of a “legislative fix” because Congress is in recess.

‘Hoping for parole’

Rabby Syed, president of the United Workers Movement-NMI, said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security can still exercise “administrative remedy” by granting parole-in-place for all legal aliens in the CNMI by Nov. 27 or Nov. 28.

Syed said Occupy USCIS will continue its peaceful vigil near USCIS office in Garapan until Nov. 27 or later, depending on the situation after Nov. 27.

Edith Ranoco, a nonresident on Saipan for 16 years and whose umbrella permit expires on Nov. 27 without a prospective new employer, said she is now considering applying for humanitarian parole with USCIS.

“If there’s still a chance for me to stay here, I will stay here. But I am still hoping I will be able to find a new employer,” she said.

Since she does not have a U.S. citizen child, she does not pin her hope on Sablan’s HR 1466, but wishes that the bill will be changed to include long-term legal nonresidents with or without U.S. citizen children.

Ranoco said she has yet to actually collect $15,400 in federal court award from a former garment employer for unpaid wages, interests, and penalties.

Others interviewed who also do not have jobs and do not have parole said while they are aware that they could be out of status after Nov. 27 or after Nov. 28, they won’t leave the CNMI unless the federal government asks them to leave.

Helen Sembrano, 53, said she’s not hoping for HR 1466 though she has a 13-year-old U.S. citizen daughter because her employer has already filed a CW petition for her.

Sembrano said if the CW petition is denied or if she really has to leave the CNMI, then she and her husband would just go back to the Philippines and work there.

1,405 aliens petitioned so far

As of Nov. 18, Friday, 1,405 CW-1 workers had been sponsored on 777 Form I-129CW petitions, Sebrechts said.

The final worker rule estimates 13,399 foreign workers in the CNMI who are “potentially eligible” for CW status.

The 1,405 aliens so far petitioned are only about 10 percent of those estimated to be “potentially eligible” for CW status.

However, because many employers indicated during interviews that they will file the CW petitions this week, the number is expected to grow.

Sebrechts said the CW petitions received through Nov. 18 were filed by 241 employers.

She said 12 of those petitions have been rejected because of using the old version of the form; submission of incorrect fee; and submission of mutilated or altered check as payment.

In addition, although not calculated within the number of CW petitions received as they were “not” I-129CW petitions, Sebrechts said “it seems a few ‘regular’ I-129 petitions were rejected because they actually requested the CW classification.”

Sebrechts said it is too early to give approval and denial numbers for I-129CW “because biometrics and any background checks must be completed before the petitions are adjudicated and then approved or denied.”

USCIS has also granted more than 3,000 parole.

The CNMI has been facing an unprecedented series of events since the federal government took over local immigration on Nov. 28, 2009.

A transitional worker program is currently in place but it will end on Dec. 31, 2014. After that, the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act requirements become fully applicable in the CNMI.