Introduction

On June 25, 2019, President Donald Trump signed the Northern Mariana Islands Long-Term Legal Residents Relief Act [PDF version] into law. The law creates a new immigration status titled “CMNI Resident status” for certain long-term legal residents and stateless individuals in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The new law comes in the aftermath of the USCIS’s decision at the end of 2018 to terminate a special parole program which provided benefits to many of those individuals. We discussed the previous iteration of the program and its expiration in a separate post [see blog].

On June 30, 2019, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will automatically extend parole and, if applicable, employment authorization, for certain residents of the CNMI [PDF version]. This extension of parole will serve as a bridge to the USCIS’s implementing procedures for the new CNMI Resident status.

In this post, we will examine the resurrection of the special parole program for certain residents of the CNMI and what it means as we await procedures on the implementation of the CNMI Resident status in the near future.

Background

With the enactment of the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, most provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) were extended to the CNMI, an insular area of the United States which had previously exercised more local control of its immigration laws. The transition of the CNMI to the Federal immigration laws is ongoing. In 2009, the USCIS began extending parole to certain relatives of U.S. citizens and stateless individuals in the CNMI who would have otherwise been left without legal status after the change in law in 2009. The USCIS standardized the procedures for this special parole program in 2011. We discuss the particulars of the CNMI parole program and its background in our earlier blog post on the subject [see blog].

On December 27, 2018, the USCIS terminated all categorical parole programs for certain individuals present in the CNMI [see blog]. The Northern Mariana Islands Long-Term Legal Residents Relief Act, signed into law on June 25, 2019, codified a new status for certain individuals in the CNMI who had previously benefitted from the special parole program. The USCIS is extending grants of parole that were slated to expire at the end of June 2019 while it develops policies for implementing the new laws.

Extension of Parole and Employment Authorization For Those Whose Parole Was Expiring

Beneficiaries of parole under the previous CNMI parole program were slated to lose benefits on June 29, 2019. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) automatically extended parole for those individuals, without interruption, through October 28, 2019. This extension is now explicitly authorized by statute. Parolees who had Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) expiring on June 29, 2019, also had their EADs automatically extended through October 28, 2019. No application is needed to benefit from the brief extension.

Beneficiaries may prove their employment authorization through October 28, 2019, by showing a copy of the USCIS web alert [PDF version] in conjunction with a USCIS EAD (Form I-766) bearing a category code “C-11” with an expiration date of June 29, 2019.

This extension is designed to give those individuals the opportunity to re-apply for parole under the new statute. The USCIS advises individuals who want to extend their parole in the CNMI beyond October 28, 2019, to apply for re-parole as soon as possible. The USCIS stated that those who submit re-parole requests will receive a letter from USCIS granting re-parole, “unless there is a specific reason to deny the request as determined on a case-by-case basis.” Parole will be granted with an expiration date not later than June 29, 2020.

Parolees who wish to extend their employment authorization beyond October 28, 2019, will be required to file a Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization. The USCIS stated that parolees should not file the Form I-765 until after their request for extension of parole beyond October 28, 2019, has been granted. Parolees are advised to file the Form I-765 as soon as possible after being approved for parole beyond October 28, 2019.

Eligibility for Parole

There are three classes of individuals who were eligible parole under the CNMI special parole program for certain long-term residents and stateless individuals.

First, the immediate relative of a U.S. citizen in the CNMI is eligible for parole provided that he or she was legally present and residing in the CNMI as of November 27, 2011. The term “immediate relative” includes the spouse, unmarried child under 21 years old, or parent of such a citizen. For purpose of the parole program, parents are included regardless of the age of the child. A stepchild qualifies as a “child” for purposes of the parole program if the marriage creating the step-relationship occurred before the child turned 18. An adopted child qualifies as a “child” for purposes of the parole program if the adopted child has been in the legal and physical custody of the adoptive parent for two years prior to the filing of the parole request. Widows and widowers of U.S. citizens are eligible so long as the death of the U.S. citizen occurred less than two years before the submission of the application for parole and the widow or widower has not remarried. No other relatives of U.S. citizens are eligible for parole under the program.

Second, a foreign national born in the CNMI between January 1, 1974, and January 9, 1978, is eligible for parole under the program. These individuals are sometimes referred to as “stateless” because they did not automatically acquire United States citizenship under the Covenant Act.

Third, the unmarried child under 21 years of age or the legal spouse of a foreign national who was born in the CNMI between January 1, 1974, and January 9, 1978, is eligible for parole under the program.

We discuss the classes of individuals covered by the parole program in more detail in our archived blog on the matter [see blog].

The USCIS’s page on the parole program for the CNMI includes filing information for re-parole requests [PDF version]:

If you are in Saipan If you are in Rota or Tinian
You may drop off your request at the Application Support Center at the TSL Plaza in Garapan, or you may mail your request to:

DHS-USCIS
ATTN: PAROLE EXTENSION — CNMI
770 East Sunset Boulevard, Suite 185
Barrigada, Guam 96913		 You may drop off your request at the Application Support Center at the TSL Plaza in Garapan, or you may mail your request to:

DHS-USCIS
ATTN: PAROLE EXTENSION — CNMI
770 East Sunset Boulevard, Suite 185
Barrigada, Guam 96913

Individuals who remain in the CNMI beyond October 28, 2019, without having been approved for re-parole or obtaining some other form of legal status, will not be employment authorized, and they may also accrue unlawful presence. It is important to remember that parolees under the program may not travel — including to other parts of the United States — and maintain parole without explicit authorization from the USCIS.

Future Implementation of CNMI Resident Status Provisions

Section 2 of the Northern Mariana Islands Long-Term Residents Relief Act sets forth the requirements for eligibility for the soon-to-be implemented CNMI Resident status.

The individual must have been lawfully present in the CNMI on either June 25, 2019, or December 31, 2018. The term “lawfully present” includes being present in the CNMI under a grant of parole or deferred action. The individual must be admissible as an immigrant to the United States except for the requirement of having an immigrant visa. The individual must have resided continuously in the CNMI from November 28, 2009, through June 25, 2019.

In addition, the individual must satisfy roughly the same requirements necessary for qualifying for parole under the parole program. “Stateless” individuals born in the CNMI between January 1, 1974, and January 9, 1978, and their spouses and children (as defined by section 101(b)(1) of the INA) will be eligible. So too will individuals who were permanent residents of the CNMI on November 27, 2009, under the laws of the CNMI prior to the effective date of the extension of the INA to the CNMI and their spouses and children (covers certain immediate relatives of U.S. citizens). Individuals who were the spouse, parent, or child of a U.S. citizen as of November 27, 2011 (the date of the implementation of the special parole program) will be eligible provided that they continue to have such a family relationship with the citizen on the date of applying for CNMI resident status.

An individual who was in the CNMI under a grant of parole on December 31, 2018, under the former parole program for certain in-home caregivers will also be eligible to apply for CNMI Resident status so long as he or she meets the other statutory requirements.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, citizens of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau are ineligible for CNMI Resident status.

The USCIS will create and announce procedures for applying for CNMI Resident status in the near future. The extension of parole for grantees is intended to bridge the gap until the CNMI Resident status is in place. Many individuals who currently have parole under the special CNMI parole provisions will be eligible to apply for CNMI Resident status. The USCIS advises individuals to begin applying for CNMI Resident status as soon as the new procedures are announced. This is because the USCIS will not extend parole indefinitely, and only to allow individuals who may be eligible for CNMI Resident status to remain in legal status until they may apply.

Conclusion

The creation of CNMI Resident status is welcome news for many parolees in the CNMI who would have soon been without legal status in the Northern Mariana Islands. It is important for these individuals to apply for re-parole in order to maintain status and legal employment authorization beyond October 28, 2019, while the USCIS implements application processes for CNMI Resident status. The statute also authorizes deferred action for certain individuals who may be eligible for CNMI Resident status but who cannot apply for re-parole.

Those who are granted CNMI Resident status will be authorized to reside in the CNMI only, similarly to the current parole program. In order to be authorized to travel to the rest of the United States and abroad without losing status, the individual would have to seek lawful permanent resident status.

Those with case-specific questions about applying for re-parole or future eligibility for CNMI Resident status should consult with an experienced immigration attorney for case-specific guidance. An attorney will also be able to determine if an individual may have a path toward lawful permanent resident status.

We will update the website with more information once the USCIS announces that it is accepting applications for CNMI Resident status.