A rule known as the touchback provision requires foreign workers to leave the country before their work visas could be renewed for a third consecutive time.
The departure requirement means that these workers will have to stay away from the CNMI until a new permit is approved, which could take months.
As this developed, Delegate Gregorio Sablan last week testified before the US House of Representatives' Committee on Education and Workforce in support of including the Northern Marianas and American Samoa in the Federal Employment Service by amending the Wagner-Peyser Act.
Sablan said the CNMI and American Samoa have a reliance on non-US workers which has contributed to ongoing workforce disruptions.
He said they have a bipartisan agreement and that now is the time to upgrade America's economic support to CNMI by making sure job seekers and employers in the Marianas or throughout the United States get the same high-quality services as other Americans everywhere else in the United States does.
The CNMI and American Samoa are the only two remaining US jurisdictions ineligible to participate in the critical programs under Wagner-Peyser Act.
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