The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas delegate in the US Congress, Gregorio Kilili Sablan, is pushing for an extension of the five-year transition period so that the CNMI can continue to have access to foreign workers beyond 2015 if needed.
In an address to the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, he said he also wanted the CNMI governor to be given the authority to certify the need for foreign labour in the same way as in Guam.
Mr Sablan became the CNMI's first non-voting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008 under the same law that placed CNMI immigration under federal control effective from late last year.
Although U.S. immigration law applies to the CNMI, the Commonwealth has a transition period with temporary measures ending in 2014.
