Because the Temporary Labor Certification (TLC) process is taking longer than usual, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has made a special exception for CW-1 petitions from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The Department of Labor has been taking an irregularly long time to process these applications because of a series of delays it has been working through, making the department unable to accommodate the volume of petitions they’re receiving.
An accommodation for temporary workers in the CNMI
If you’re a temporary worker trying to get an extension of status in the CNMI and you were late getting your petition in, it will still be counted as on time. This is true even if the file was received by USCIS after the CW-1 petition that the worker currently had was no longer valid.
Under the Department of Homeland Security’s normal policies, employers are only allowed to file CW-1 petitions for people legally working in the CNMI. Extensions of nonimmigrant status were not approved if the worker’s status as a nonimmigrant had already reached its expiration date by the time the filing process is complete.
Extenuating circumstances necessitated the exception
USCIS has the ability to decide when it’s appropriate to excuse CW-1 petitions that were filed late. Now is one of those times. Due to limited resources and capacity at the DOL, this limited accommodation has been applied to these extension of status petitions.
In order for your business immigration petition to be accepted, there are still some conditions that you have to meet. The form has to be filled out properly and properly filed, for instance.
Additionally, the DOL must have received it no less than 60 days before the start date requested. Once the TLC has been approved, you have a maximum of 30 days to get your petition into the USCIS.
