by Ronna Sweeney, KUAM NewsSaturday, May 10, 2008 Subscribe to Ronna's newsfeed
President George W. Bush has signed the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 into law. The Act plans to phase in United States immigration control in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands over time, wrapping up by 2014. But while it ends local authority over immigration in the NMI, Guam and the region will be exempted from national restrictions on foreign worker 'H' visas for both skilled and professional workers.That means H-2 workers, who are typically generally construction workers, will no longer be subject to the national, yearly visa limit if the hiring is for Guam or the CNMI. As far as visa waivers go, the law allows the CNMI and Guam to have a shared visa waiver system for tourists. The current visa waiver allows certain foreigners to enter Guam without visas if they don't stay longer than 15 days; under the new law that will be lengthened to 45 days for both Guam as well as the CNMI.The passage of the Consolidated Natural Resources Act also means for the first time ever that CNMI residents will be electing a non-voting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. That will likely take place later this year, with the delegate taking office by early January 2009.Meanwhile, secretary of the interior Dirk Kempthorne is pleased with the President's signing of the legislation. In a press release Kempthorne stated the commander in chief's action is milestone in relations between the federal government and the CNMI. However, Kempthorne did go on to state, "It is important to note that after the enactment of this significant congressional legislation, there is still much work to be done by federal agencies and the Northern Marianas government to implement U.S. immigration laws in the commonwealth."