LOCAL businesses must prepare for the CW-1 “touchback” provision, Saipan Chamber of Commerce board member Alex Sablan said in a chamber meeting on Wednesday at Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan.
“We need to be planning for touchback because we are going to need a ‘Hail Mary’ to get something changed or a reprieve for the next couple of years,” the Tan Holdings vice president for corporate business development said.
The touchback provision requires employers to send CW-1 visa holders back to their home country every three years. The CW-1 employee is then required to remain outside the U.S. for a minimum of 30 days. The processing of a renewal application, however, can take months.
Sablan and other chamber officials visited the nation’s capital recently to lobby for the passage of U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan’s bill, H.R. 1420, which would modify the touchback requirement.
Alex Sablan said attaching a touchback modification provision to the National Defense Authorization Act is possible, but not feasible.
“At the end of the day, touchback is something that is going to have an 11th hour ‘Hail Mary’ call,” he added.
He said another possible way to address the CNMI’s labor shortage is to work with Guam and pursue a “one Marianas” H2-B visa.
Guam construction companies utilize H2-B visas to bring skilled foreign labor to work on military and other projects on that island.
Alex Sablan said these skilled laborers may work “beyond the fence” on civilian projects if those projects are within the “nexus” of military projects.
He said this has allowed hotel projects on Guam to utilize H2-B workers.
“If we’re going to move away and get away from CW, then we need some kind of visa that will work within the Marianas for day laborers,” he added.
“In order for us to have a viable economy…we’re going to need every bit of the 27,000 [workers] that we once had in this economy to keep the engines going here. That dynamic can only be achieved by having a foreign…workforce. We have a strong U.S. citizen workforce by having a strong foreign national workforce,” he said.
CNMI Labor Secretary Leila Staffler earlier said that, based on her research and projections, September 2023 may see the largest number of departures because of the “touchback” provision.
“In particular, we see there will be a huge area of need in health and human services,” she added.
Staffler also noted that the CNMI currently has over a billion dollars in construction projects scheduled or ongoing, but does not have enough construction workers on island, even without the “touchback” provision in place.
Alex Sablan, Tan Holdings vice president for corporate business development, speaks at a meeting of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday at Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan.
