Rejected CW permits not eligible for 240-day stay

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services clarified over the weekend that rejected CW permits are not eligible for the 240-day authorized stay.

In an email exchange with Saipan Tribune, a USCIS representative clarified that rejected CW permits for fiscal year 2019 are not eligible for the 240-day authorized stay.

The statement said that only permits that are still awaiting adjudication are eligible for the 240-day period.

“If a petition is rejected, it is not pending with USCIS, thus the beneficiaries of the petition cannot lawfully continue to work in the CNMI,” the statement said.

The statement added that, while one may not apply for the 240-day additional employment authorization period, it begins on the date the eligible employee’s CW-1 status expires.

“The [authorized stay] period continues until USCIS issues a decision on the petition or until 240 days after the CW-1 status expires, whichever comes first,” the representative stated, adding that it was required that the terms and conditions of the employment must remain the same as those previously approved.

The 240-day authorized stay period does not extend the CW-1 worker’s nonimmigrant status but only “allows the employee to continue working with the same employer.”

“It does not give nonimmigrant status or lawful presence that allows an employee to avoid accruing unlawful presence under…the Immigration and Nationality Act.”

For fiscal year 2019 alone, USCIs set the CW cap at a measly 4,999. Previous statements from the agency said that the large cut in CW slots were in anticipation of the sunset provision set by the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, the same law that set up the CNMI Transition Period that encompasses the CW-1 program as well as the Investor E-2C program.

According to the CNRA, the CNMI Transition Period is slated to end this December 2019, effectively ending the programs along with it.

A previous statement from Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan had described the large cut to the CW slots for fiscal year 2019 as “unnecessary” and “harmful to the Marianas.”

In a presentation to the Saipan Chamber of Commerce last Tuesday, Sablan announced that he expects the U.S. House of Representatives to act this week on S. 2325, a bill by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) that effectively extends the transition period to 2029.

S.2325 breezed through the U.S. Senate unanimously but it came after USCIS set the CW cap for fiscal year 2019 at a measly 4,999.