This bill amends the "Joint Resolution to approve the Covenant To Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America" to extend until December 31, 2029, the transition period during which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shall regulate immigration in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) pending full applicability of U.S. immigration laws to the CNMI.
The annual supplemental vocational education fee currently charged to the employer of each CNMI transition period nonimmigrant worker shall be charged instead to the employer of each temporary worker. The CNMI shall provide the Department of Labor with an annual plan for the expenditure of such funds for U.S. worker job placement.
DHS is authorized to not reduce the annual transitional nonimmigrant worker visa allocation to zero during the transition period if a reduction in the number of available workers would adversely affect the CNMI's economy.
The bill caps the number of transitional nonimmigrant worker visas at 18,000.
An employer shall pay a CW-1 transitional worker: (1) wages that are at least the actual wage level paid by the employer to all other similarly qualified individuals; (2) wages that are at least the prevailing wage level for the occupational classification; or (3) for job classifications without a certified prevailing wage, wages equal to or greater than the mean wage of the three lowest wages within the CNMI's prevailing wage system.
Labor, by April 30, 2027, shall ascertain the CNMI's current and anticipated labor needs and determine whether a five-year extension of the transition program is necessary to ensure the availability of an adequate number of workers.
The bill provides for, and set forth the criteria under which, long-term CNMI residents may be admitted as CNMI permanent residents.
The bill sets forth specified reporting and data collection requirements.