Labor identifies hundreds of applications from sham employers
Tuesday, 03 February 2009 00:00 By Junhan B. Todeno - Variety News Staff
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THE Department of Labor identifies about 300 to 400 questionable applications for sponsorship in an average quarter, according to Labor Secretary Gil M. San Nicolas in his report to the Legislature.

About 4,000 to 5,000 applications for sponsorship every quarter are reviewed by the Labor director and his staff.

“The new [labor law, P.L. 15-108] provided better tools for identifying sham employers and the director of Labor is doing an outstanding job of finding sham sponsorships in the applications that are submitted,” San Nicolas told lawmakers in his 2008 Annual Report to the Legislature dated Jan. 30, 2009.

San Nicolas said applications from sham employers have been turned down, but some applicants have filed an appeal.

“This is an additional workload for the Hearing Office, and these hearings in denial cases are held on Thursdays and Fridays on a special docket,” he said.

San Nicolas also discussed his department’s efforts against overstaying aliens.

He said the Department of Labor will publish the lists of overstayers for the second quarter of 2008 on Feb. 9; for the third quarter on Feb. 15; and for the fourth quarter, by the end of the month.

The list of overstayers for the first quarter of 2008 was published in June 2008 and contained 25 names.

The lists for the second and third quarters were held up while the department finished Phase II of the project, San Nicolas said.

For Phase II of the project, he added, the department completed the review of all records for calendar years 2003 through 2007.

The list of overstayers for these years was published on Dec. 1, 2008.

The list, which was forwarded to the Immigration Division, contained 575 names, the report stated.

Labor estimates that over 90 percent of overstating foreign workers in the commonwealth were among those who entered the CNMI during the years 2003 through 2008.

San Nicolas attributed the increase of overstayers in the CNMI to the unemployment of guest workers.

But he added that Labor office has new procedures to deal with overstayeers who are former contract workers.

He said the Immigration Division is responsible for overstayers who came in as tourists, businesspeople, investors, religious workers, students or foreign media representatives.

In Phase I of the project, he said Labor created a quarterly system for publishing the lists of overstayers.

At the end of each quarter, all permits that expired during the quarter are examined to determine if the holder of the permit still has current status to stay in the commonwealth, San Nicolas said.

He said while Labor identifies potential overstayers it also publishes a list to allow the persons on the list to correct their status if an error has been made.

The list is then certified to Immigration for deportation proceedings, he added.