Previous Story
Upcoming hotels will still need foreign workers
With the recent lowering of the cap and the impending end in 2019 of the Commonwealth-only transitional worker visa, the needs of the CNMI for foreign workers continue to grow.
Soon-to-open Kensington Hotel, which will be operated by E-Land Group, said it will need about 310 employees.
E-Land Saipan chief executive officer Myung-Wook “Matthew” Park said they already announced their recruitment and got more than 500 applicants. However, not all of them are U.S. citizens.
Park said only 150 U.S. citizens applied for a job with their upcoming hotel and the rest are foreign workers.
Although it brought in casino dealers from the U.S. mainland, Best Sunshine International, Ltd. is also bringing in foreign workers for their live casino training facility.
BSI chief services officer Tao Xing said it is their goal to “turn the tide” and make the local people who left the island come back, but he also stated that they will help in promoting the extension of the CW program.
“As a member of the business community, we’ll work with all the business to definitely promote [the extension],” Xing said.
“I think it’s something that the company would like to see extended,” chief operating officer Matt Harkness said.
For his part, Marianas Visitors Authority managing director Perry Tenorio said the administration is looking into the need for foreign workers of upcoming hotels.
“The government understands these concerns, the labor concerns, with the zeroing out of the CW laborers in 2020. Through the strategic economic development committee, we’re working to address that, asking for an extension of that deadline,” Tenorio said.
