US visa waiver for Pinoy tourists entering CNMI, Guam pushed

CAPITAL HILL, Saipan – A Guam senator is pushing for the inclusion of citizens from the Philippines to the list of those who will be allowed to enter Guam or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) for tourism purposes without a US visa by June 1. The US territories of Guam and the CNMI are only about 30 minutes away from each other by plane. A federal law creates a joint Guam-CNMI visa waiver program which is to take effect on June 1. The list excludes countries such as the Philippines, as well as China and Russia which are both important markets for CNMI tourism. In the CNMI where some 10,000 Filipinos and Filipino-Americans work and live, no public official has so far brought the idea of proposing to include the Philippines in the visa waiver list. However, officials of the US Department of Homeland Security who visited the CNMI capital of Saipan in January said citizens from the Philippines don’t necessarily go to the CNMI for tourism but for work. Guam Sen. Judith P. Guthertz, who chairs the Committee on Military Buildup and Homeland Security, said the inclusion of the Philippines in the visa waiver program “would be of significant economic benefit to our people." “More importantly, we need the visa waiver program for the (Philippines) because of the close family and cultural ties between us. The Visit Families and Friends numbers would be the most important reason for including the (Philippines) in the visa waiver program for Guam," Guthertz said, commenting on the interim final rules to implement the Gumam-CNMI visa waiver program and the federalization of CNMI immigration by June 1 unless extended by 180 days. Guthertz noted that Filipinos have a large presence in Guam's history and much of the Chamorro culture is adopted from the Philippine culture and local families have many relatives living in the Philippines. “However, it is a one-way system because the relatives in the (Philippines) cannot get visas to visit their relatives here on our islands without lengthy and difficult application process for a regular visa," she added. Only the citizens of the following countries will be eligible for participation in the Guam-CNMI visa waiver program: Australia, Brunei, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Singapore and the United Kingdom. Letter writing campaign Filipinos and others in the CNMI are encouraged to join the letter writing campaign initiated by human rights advocate Wendy Doromal, along with the United Workers Movement NMI, to let the US government know of their concerns about the immigration law. Many fear that Filipinos and other foreigners in the CNMI will lose their immigration status due to federalization, which is the exact opposite of what many who supported the federalization thought about. Doromal said the letter writing campaign is meant to put “human face" on foreign contract workers, immediate relatives of US and Freely Associated States citizens, and others in the CNMI who will be affected by the June 1 start of transition to federal immigration. “The officials drafting regulations are thousands of miles from the CNMI and have not met with these people directly. The letters will give them a chance to get a clearer picture of who the people affected by Public Law 110-229 are, the contributions that they make to the community, and why they call the Commonwealth home," Doromal said in a statement. The campaign came at a time when CNMI Delegate Gregorio “Kilili" C. Sablan called on the US Department of Homeland Security and the US State Department to develop a way for immediate relatives (IRs) of CNMI residents to enter and exit the CNMI legally once federal immigration law is extended to the commonwealth. Many of these IRs are from the Philippines. During yesterday’s annual meeting of the White House Interagency Group on Insular Affairs in Washington, D.C., Sablan said there is no visa for IRs, meaning that starting June 1, IRs will not be able to re-enter the CNMI if they leave and do not have a visa. - GMANews.TV