CNMI faces steep foreign worker cutbacks ahead of 2029 deadline

08/25/2025 - The CNMI’s ability to rely on foreign labor is facing a sharp reduction over the next four years, with immigration exemptions that have underpinned the CNMI economy since the federalization of immigration in 2009 set to expire by Dec. 31, 2029. Unless Congress intervenes, employers will have far fewer options to maintain the foreign workforce that supports much of the private sector.

This was the central message delivered by attorney Bruce L. Mailman during a Society for Human Resource Management CNMI Chapter breakfast meeting last Aug. 21, at Charley’s Cabaret, Pacific Islands Club Saipan. 

Mailman outlined how the CNMI’s current visa system is gradually winding down, leaving businesses with fewer tools to recruit and retain workers from abroad.

At the heart of the issue is the CW-1 visa program, created in 2011 as a transitional measure to help the Commonwealth adjust to U.S. immigration law. The program once allowed up to 13,000 foreign workers annually, but under the Northern Mariana Islands U.S. Workforce Act, the number has been reduced every year. By fiscal year 2026, the cap will stand at 8,000, and by fiscal year 2029, it will shrink to just 5,000. Only 1,000 slots will remain in the first quarter of fiscal year 2030 before the program ends entirely.

“We need to have something done. And it's going to be done soon because at the moment we have not dipped below the number of workers for whom employers are requesting CW positions. Once our cap is lowered below the number of positions, we're going to start having the same kind of cap rejections, people being capped out, that we had in 2015, 2016, and even 2017,” said Mailman in an interview after the event. 

He said the outlook for the CW-1 program will only worsen moving forward. Employers are already dealing with slow processing times for both temporary labor certifications and visa petitions, inconsistent denials for three-year grants that were previously approved, burdensome filing fees, and complicated “touchback” requirements that force workers to leave the islands before returning. Each of these hurdles adds uncertainty for both employers and employees and makes long-term planning increasingly difficult.

While alternative immigration pathways exist, Mailman noted that none provide the scale or long-term stability of the CW program. Among the options are limited H-1B and H-2B visas, long-term resident or LTR status for eligible foreign nationals, L1A and L1B visas for executives, managers, and technical specialists, as well as an assortment of niche visas for religious workers, athletes, entertainers, or exchange visitors.

“That's why I'm talking to HR managers, people need to start planning. The problem is that there are really no direct over-the-board equivalents in the rest of the U.S. immigration law. There is no CW in the rest of the U.S. There is no generalized work visa,” he said.

Delegate Kimberlyn King-Hinds has also proposed a CNMI Labor Stabilization Program aimed at providing additional relief, but the measure has yet to move through Congress.

Compounding the problem is the state of the U.S. immigration system itself. According to recent data, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is facing a record 11.3 million pending cases, the highest in at least a decade. Case completions have slowed significantly, and for the first time since 2024, the agency reported a backlog of unopened applications. For the CNMI, where employers rely on timely processing to keep businesses running, the delays add another layer of uncertainty.

Green card opportunities remain part of the immigration mix, though they too face delays. Family-based petitions by U.S. citizen spouses and children are progressing relatively smoothly, but cases involving parents of adult children and petitions filed by lawful permanent residents are moving more slowly. Employment-based green cards—EB-1 through EB-5—also remain viable pathways for some, though processing times and visa bulletin backlogs continue to frustrate applicants.

Mailman also drew attention to specific admissibility issues that have become more common in recent years. He cited problems with prior misrepresentations on visa applications, such as concealing overstays on forms or at interviews, which can result in permanent bars to immigration benefits. Another complication involves marriages performed at the former Philippine Consulate on Saipan, which were later declared invalid under CNMI law. This has disrupted spousal petitions for both non-immigrant visas and green card cases.

To prepare for the tightening labor environment, Mailman urged local employers to take proactive steps now. These include auditing their current workforce to determine which employees might qualify for permanent status or alternative visa categories, considering support programs for family-based immigrants, and developing training and internship pipelines to build up the local U.S. workforce. He suggested that student interns, high school co-op programs, and partnerships with educational institutions could help ease the transition over time.

He also warned employers and workers to be cautious of employment authorization scams, noting that while many categories of Employment Authorization Documents, or EADs, are valid, some fraudulent applications are being pushed that lead only to wasted filing fees and denials.

For the CNMI, the clock is ticking. By the end of 2029, the Commonwealth’s immigration system will look fundamentally different from today, with far fewer foreign workers available to fill critical roles in tourism, construction, healthcare, and other industries. Unless legislation extends or replaces the CW program, the private sector will need to rely on a patchwork of smaller visa programs and a gradual build-up of U.S. citizen and permanent resident workers.

Mailman stressed that the changes are coming quickly and that businesses must prepare now. Without a shift in federal law, the CNMI’s labor force will face a dramatic restructuring within the next four years.

“I think employers should look at their staff. See who might be qualified for something like green cards. And see if they can work out a way to help them. I've had employers do that in the past with loan programs that require sufficient protection for both employer and employee. And that's worked very well. But it requires a commitment and typically requires a long-term relationship between employer and employee,” he said.

SHRM president Roman Tudela thanked Mailman for the very informative and timely presentation. 

“The biggest takeaway was to just really condition employers to know exactly what to expect and to kind of realize the environment that we have with USCIS in terms of the processing time and so and to anticipate that so that in the event that we get closer to 2029 that our employers are aware of what could happen and they're aware of what they can do in case any hiccups happen along the way.”

Report by Mark Rabago