‘Void of skilled labor’ when visa period expires raises concerns
SAIPAN, CNMI (Marianas Variety, June 27,
2012) – The Saipan Chamber of Commerce recommends another five-year
extension of the federalization transition to prevent the loss of the
islands’ human resources and save the ailing Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands’ (CNMI) economy.
The recommendation was based on a poll
conducted among the chamber members in response to the request of the
U.S. Government Accountability Office that they comment on any
"uncertainty" they are facing as a result of the federalization of
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) immigration.
Chamber members believe that if an
additional transition period were not to be granted, existing businesses
would no longer be able to secure Commonwealth-only worker (CW-1) visas
past Nov. 2014 for foreign national workers, and there would be a
corresponding void of skilled labor no longer available thereafter
within the commonwealth for businesses and essential services.
The transition period ends on Dec. 31, 2014.
Chamber president Douglas Brennan said
regardless of the eventual date, the CNMI economy will suffer as a
result of loss in human resources.
He said chamber members were "overwhelmingly
consistent in attesting to the…uncertainty created with the approaching
date…when all CW-1 visa holders would be ‘zeroed out,’ and companies
employing CW-1 applicants in skilled positions would not be able to
easily locate qualified replacements."
The chamber maintains that CW-1 visa holders
have "an enormous position range in the CNMI — positions in management,
business and finance, computer and math, engineering and architectural
technicians, legal and educational occupations, entertainment,
healthcare support, protective services, food preparation, maintenance,
sales, office administration, farming and fishing, installation and
repair, automotive, production and transportation — all part of the
11,739
CW-1 visa applications [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services]
received for CNMI employers."
The chamber said its members believe that
"the CNMI has been, and will continue to be, dependent upon foreign
national employees to supplement the small numbers of U.S. local
potential hires" in the commonwealth.
"This is in addition to the fact that there
isn’t much training available in the CNMI for technical positions, which
means the dependence will continue until a change in education
evolves," the chamber added.
It noted that local employees leave the island for greener pastures once trained or after receiving their formal education.
The chamber said in the past five years, operations shrunk and the business customer base has decreased by over 25 percent.
At the end of the current transition period, without CW-1 visas, the economic meltdown will worsen, it added.
According to the chamber, "a startling
example of the disruption that would be caused when CW-1 visas are
eliminated would be in the case of the Commonwealth Healthcare Center
[once] those CW-1 visas were no longer available."
CHC has a little over 100 nurses, and 90
percent of those nurses have been applied for CW-1 visas. None of those
applications from the CHC have been processed and/or issued yet.
If those CW-1 visas were no longer available
the hospital could not function and would stop serving those needing
medical services, the chamber said.
CHC has the only real operating rooms in the CNMI. "Without nurses and attendants, everything stops," the chamber said.
If the U.S. Labor Department recommends
ending the transition in 2014, a potential health threatening situation
would unfold, the chamber added.
"It is also fair to say that without a
functioning public healthcare center available for companies and their
employees, CNMI residents would suffer. Further, future investment, the
chamber’s sought-after retirement visa program and other new economic
possibilities, are severely threatened with this healthcare
‘uncertainty’ that will surely occur should the transition period not be
extended," the chamber said.
Published at the Marianas Variety and Pacific Pacific Islands Report
