Local
Friday, December 04, 2009

Labor never issued 'conditional umbrella permits'

By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter

The Department of Labor never issued any “conditional umbrella permits” and that no “umbrella permits” were issued after the Nov. 27, 2009, deadline, according to acting Labor Secretary Cinta Kaipat yesterday.

Kaipat also disclosed to Saipan Tribune that their current estimate is that more than 96 percent of eligible workers picked up their “umbrella permits.”

On the “conditional umbrella permits” issue, the acting Labor Secretary said they never issued such permits and that the announcement in the newspapers about the permits was only from Attorney General Edward Buckingham.

After the publication of that announcement, Kaipat said she and Buckingham issued a joint statement to clarify the situation.

“That statement is the current position of both agencies,” she stressed.

In the joint statement, the Office of the Attorney General and Labor stated they would not issue “umbrella permits” to overstayers as the permits are not part of an amnesty program.

Buckingham earlier issued a public notice granting conditional “umbrella permits” to 628 aliens who have been classified as overstayers.

Kaipat said yesterday that Labor is not issuing “umbrella permits” anymore as the deadline was midnight of Nov. 27, 2009, which was set by federal law.

Kaipat said Labor issued “umbrella permits” to every person who applied with Labor who was eligible either under Labor's normal processes or under the Governor's Protocol.

“We finished issuing the last permit at about 5:15pm on Friday, Nov. 27. We were always confident that we could finish the permit-issuing process within the available time, and we did that. I'm very proud of the way the Labor Department staff performed this very large and important task,” she said.

Kaipat said those who did not pick up their permits have already left the CNMI or are planning to leave soon and therefore did not need such permits.

“We will have more precise numbers when we reconcile all the digital records,” she added.

Labor started issuing “umbrella permits” last Oct. 26.