USCIS ‘automatically’ extends parole

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will “automatically” extend parole to individuals in the CNMI who have a parole expiring on Jan. 31, 2012, a parole filed in October or later, or those with pending I-129 and I-129CW application, USCIS regional media manager Marie Thérèse Sebrechts said yesterday.

This means those with pending Commonwealth-only worker petitions need not apply for an extension of their parole expiring on Tuesday.

“You do not have to file anything with USCIS to get your parole extended. However, this automatic extension applies only to those who applied for parole/parole extension in October 2011 or later, have a parole that expires on Jan. 31, 2012, and who are the beneficiaries of a petition filed with USCIS that is still pending, Sebrechts said in response to media inquiries.

There is no set date yet as to when this “automatically extended” parole will expire.

Sebrechts said USCIS will plan this for the time needed to take biometrics and adjudicate the cases.

She also said if one has parole that expires Jan. 31, 2012, but has no pending application with USCIS, that person is not eligible for an automatic extension of parole.

“If you have a parole that expires Jan. 31, 2012, have a pending application with USCIS, but applied for parole before October 2011, you are not eligible for an automatic extension of parole,” Sebrechts added.

Anyone else who is not covered by the three criteria listed above should visit the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov/cnmi for instructions on how to file for parole extension.

Reynato Cariazo, a finance manager, said he has yet to receive notification for a biometrics appointment some two months after a CW petition was filed on his behalf by his employer.

Cariazo, who has been working on Saipan for over six years, has a parole that expires on Jan. 31. He said he’s relieved that he at least does not need to file for parole extension at this time.

He said it would be nice to find out the status of the CW petition filed on his behalf, although it has not reached that point where he’s already worried.

Teddy Orbeta, a 44-year-old accountant also with pending CW petition, said he’s not worried yet that he has not gotten a biometrics appointment. But if it’s already March, for example, and he still does not have any biometrics appointment, he said he would start worrying.

“I plan to go on vacation in August for my son’s 21st birthday. I hope by that time, I already have CW status,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Rene Reyes, founding president of the Marianas Advocates for Humanitarian Affairs Ltd. or Mahal, said USCIS’ announcement provides relief to those who are starting to be anxious about not receiving a receipt number for their pending CW application or those who have not received appointment notices for biometrics.

“Even though the announcement came in only a few days before the Jan. 31 expiration of parole, at least people know they don’t need to file for extension,” he said.

USCIS has said people who were paroled due to an expired permit must keep their parole current in order to maintain a legal presence in the United States.

USCIS has yet to have an update on the number of CW petitions it has received, how many have been granted so far, and how many rejected or denied, among other things.

As of the latest data of Dec. 9, USCIS received over 11,000 CW petitions from CNMI employers.

‘It’s not right’

Rabby Syed, president of United Workers Movement-NMI, said yesterday it’s “sad” that USCIS has not said anything about the status of humanitarian parole applications filed mostly by immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.

“There’s a lot of people who applied for humanitarian parole on or before the Nov. 28 deadline. It is not right that up to now, USCIS is not saying anything about their application status. I think it’s time they know USCIS’ decision,” he said.

Reyes, for his part, believes that because CW applications alone couldn’t be adjudicated near the Jan. 31 expiration of parole, there’s a lesser chance for humanitarian parole applications to be decided at this time.

“Maybe we just have to understand that USCIS has backlog of CW and humanitarian parole applications. We may just have to be patient,” he said.

Reyes called on USCIS not to give nonresidents a hard time granting advance parole or parole if they need to exit and re-enter the CNMI for “emergency” reasons such as a death in the family or major medical treatment.

USCIS announced in November that it will grant, on a case-by-case basis, parole for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens and certain “stateless” individuals. That parole, if granted, will expire on Dec. 31, 2012.

Many nonresidents who have been working in the CNMI for years and lost their jobs when the economy tanked applied for humanitarian parole, mainly because they do not want to be separated from their minor U.S. citizen children in the CNMI.

Most of those covered by this so-called “IR parole” are those who would benefit from Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan’s H.R. 1466, a bill that seeks a grant of CNMI-only resident status to four groups of people, including immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. The bill remains pending in Congress.

Sablan, before going back to Washington, D.C., said he will continue to push for HR 1466’s passage.