releases: http://sablan.house.gov/kilili-continues-address-plight-e-2c-investors
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| http://sablan.house.gov/kilili-continues-address-plight-e-2c-investors | Kilili continues to address plight of E-2C investors | 2014-09-17 | 2014 | 2014-09 | Independent | Senate | MP | Gregorio Sablan | S001177 | sablan.house.gov | legacy | BARELY three months before the longtime-investor classification expires, as longtime investors are thinking all hope is lost, U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan continues to take up the cudgels for them on Capital Hill and address their plight by buying them more time. “The E2 CNMI visa is one of the important immigration policies I am working to have extended. It will end this year, unless Congress takes action,” Sablan told Variety yesterday. Unlike the CW program which has been extended up to 2019, a decision is still up in the air on the E-2C program. The E-2C classification was designed to help the CNMI transition from its local permit system to federal immigration laws. This classification was created to allow eligible foreign, longterm investors and their families to remain in the CNMI from November 28, 2009 through December 31, 2014 while they resolve their immigration status. The CW program was extended to run for another five years by the U.S. Department of Labor last June. However, the extention did not cover longtime investors. The extension of the E2-C program is contingent on U.S. congressional action. Some of the longtime investors in the CNMI have put their life savings into enterprises here and are concerned about losing these investments if and when their E-2C status expires on Dec. 31. “E2 CNMI visa holders are investors who were promised permanent resident status during the time that the Commonwealth controlled immigration, if they made a minimum investment in the Northern Marianas. So what I am trying to do is keep that promise that the Commonwealth Government made to these investors even though the Commonwealth no longer controls immigration,” said Sablan. He recognizes the significant impact losing these investors will have if their status is not extended beyond the Dec. 31 expiration date of the E-2C program. He said there are 261 E2-CNMI visa holders and they have investments of “somewhere between $26 and $65 million in place in the Northern Marianas.” Sablan said, “If they pull those investments out, it would have a negative effect on our economy.” Many of these investors have been on edge as they fear they would not be able to recoup their investments if their status is not extended beyond this year. But Sablan continues to seek solutions for them on the Hill. “So I am working to keep these grandfathered investors both because that was the commitment the Commonwealth Government made to them years ago and because their investments remain valuable today.” Sablan’s bills H.R. 4296 and H.R. 2200, and its companion bill S.1237, all extend the E2 CNMI visa until the end of 2019. “H.R. 4296 has been okayed by the House Natural Resources Committee; S.1237 has passed the Senate. Obviously, I continue to work very hard to get these bills moving. Otherwise, the E2 CNMI investor visa will cease to exist at the end of this year,” he said. Sablan introduced H.R. 2200 in May 2013 and it was co-sponsored by Rep. Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam-At Large; Rep. Donna Christensen, D-Virgin Islands-At Large; and Rep. Eni F. H. Faleomavaega, D-AS-At Large. Otherwise known as the Territorial Omnibus Act of 2013, H.R. 2200 proposes to improve the administration of programs in the insular areas. The bill includes provisions on adjustments to the scheduled federal minimum wage in the Northern Mariana Islands, appointment of a chief financial officer for the Virgin Islands, low-income home energy assistance program, Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act, improvements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and fishery endorsements. The bill also contains a provision that would raise the waiver on certain matching grants to $500,000. The bill clarifies the U.S. Congress intent to allow a policy of prioritizing U.S. citizens over noncitizens for federal public housing assistance. H.R. 4296 was introduced by Sablan in March 2014. This bill amends federal law—Public Law 94-241—to extend the federal immigration law transition period for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands through December 31, 2019, including the annual reduction of nonimmigrant workers who may be admitted during the period. S. 1237 or the Omnibus Territories Act of 2013, was passed by the U.S. Senate on June 18, 2014. This bill, among other things, extends through December 31, 2019, a system for allocating and determining the number, terms, and conditions of permits issued to prospective employers for nonimmigrant workers performing work during the transition period (the period for administration of a transition program to regulate immigration to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands [CNMI]) who would not otherwise be eligible for admission under the Immigration and Nationality Act. https://www.mvariety.com/cnmi/cnmi-news/local/69208-kilili-continues-to-address-plight-of-e-2c-investors | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |