Local
Thursday, April 02, 2009

'Permanent residency via employment applicable to NMI'

By Moneth Deposa
Reporter

Once federalization kicks in, adjustments to lawful permanent resident status will be applicable to the CNMI in the same manner it is being enforced anywhere else in the United States.

This was the assurance of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in an e-mail to Saipan Tribune yesterday, saying that everyone who is eligible may apply for these changes to obtain permanent resident status on island.

“Anyone in the CNMI who is eligible under the Immigration and Nationality Act to apply for adjustment to lawful permanent resident status-either based on family or employment-will have the ability to do so in the same manner as people anywhere in the U.S.,” said Marie Therese Sebrechts, USCIS regional media manager.

According to the USCIS Web site, if a person wants to become an immigrant based on the fact that he or she has a permanent job, or if an employer wants to sponsor someone for lawful permanent residency based on permanent employment in the United States, they need to go through some important steps. These include making sure that the individual to be petitioned by the employer is eligible for lawful permanent residency and the employer completes a labor certification request for the applicant-employee.

The USCIS must approve an immigrant visa petition for the person wishing to immigrate, which the employer will file himself since the employer will act as the sponsor or petitioner for the applicant who wants to live and work on a permanent basis in the United States. An immigrant visa number is issued after completing the process that the applicant must go through to adjust to permanent resident status.

There are four categories for granting permanent residence to foreign nationals based upon employment:

- EB-1 is for priority workers who are foreign nationals of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics; professors and researchers; managers and executives subject to international transfer to the U.S.

- EB-2 is for professionals with advanced degrees or persons with exceptional ability including foreign nationals of exceptional ability in science, arts and business; and advanced degree professionals.

- EB-3 is applicable for skilled or professional workers with bachelor's degrees, skilled workers with minimum two years training and experience, and unskilled workers.

- EB-4 is for religious workers.

Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security announced the delayed transition of federalization in the CNMI after consultations with various entities and concerned parties.

As a result of the decision, the existing CNMI immigration laws will continue to apply until Nov. 28, 2009. Additionally, the implementation of Customs and Border Protection's interim final rule establishing a joint Guam-CNMI Visa Waiver Program, that was scheduled to begin on June 1, 2009, will also be delayed until Nov. 28, 2009, and the existing Guam visa waiver program will continue to operate until that date. To effectuate this change, CBP plans to issue a technical amendment to the Guam-CNMI interim final rule published on Jan. 16, 2009.

This decision also delays the implementation of the exemption from the current statutory caps on the number of nonimmigrant H-1B and H-2B petitions granted yearly for employers filing H worker petitions in Guam.