CW-1 Extension Program Extends Foreign Worker Recruitment - 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is rendering advice in regard to an announcement done by the United States Department of Labor (DOL) for a five-year extension of the CNMI (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) program, till 31 December 2019.

The extension permits businesses of CNMI  to keep on hiring CW-1 employees from overseas to fulfill their present and future needs of foreign employees.

USCIS has offered approvals of new CW-1 status and extension of status only till December 31, 2014. If an eligible petition is unadjudicated and the petitioner requests for full year, then USCIS will recommence granting CW-1 status in periods to a maximum of one year. There exist no changes in the fees and application process of the CW program and employers must use the same form. USCIS suggests employers to file the applications forms as early as possible within the time period to avoid spaces in employment authorization.

Partners and children under 18 years of CW-1 employees can acquire CW-2 derivative status. An extension of DOL’s CW-1 also permits USCIS to approve CW-2 status to partners and children less than 18 years for the same period of time as the main CW-1 petitioner, whose status is more extended or approved after 31 December 2014.