Green Card Visa CNMI

DHS and Department of Justice regulations have recently been updated to amend the definition of the geographical “United States” to now include the CNMI for immigration purposes. Prior to this update, people with U.S. permanent resident alien status (“green card visa”) who came to the CNMI were considered technically “outside” of the United States, and, if they stayed too long, would risk being in violation of the terms of their green card status that requires they maintain continuous residence in the geographical United States for a specified number of months each year.

In other words, it hasn’t been just the distance that has kept some U.S. mainlanders away from Saipan. For those green card holders who wished to become U.S. citizens, their time in the CNMI did not count toward their residency requirement. Now it will.

What this means is that once word gets out that Saipan is now part of the U.S. (and as the minimum wage approaches national levels), green card visa holders living in the U.S., or even on Guam, might consider coming to Saipan to live and work, providing a new influx of residents and labor.

That’s just one example. Savvy entrepreneurs follow federalization not just to “see what happens,” but to anticipate what will happen, and see what they can make happen! It’s not all about doom and gloom.

[read the full story here]