Only hospital in CNMI to lose as much as 30 nurses Photo: Supplied
The Northern Marianas' Commonwealth Health Centre may temporarily lose up to 30 nurses in the next six-to-eight months due to working visa rules.
A rule known as the touchback provision requires foreign workers to leave the country before their work visas could be renewed for a third consecutive time.
The departure requirement means that these workers will have to stay away from the CNMI until a new permit is approved, which could take months.
Commonwealth Healthcare chief executive Esthewr Muna said they will be replacing the departing nurses with local nurses and new hires, some from the local college who just passed the certification test for registered nurses.
As this developed, Delegate Gregorio Sablan last week testified before the US House of Representatives' Committee on Education and Workforce in support of including the Northern Marianas and American Samoa in the Federal Employment Service by amending the Wagner-Peyser Act.
Sablan said the CNMI and American Samoa have a reliance on non-US workers which has contributed to ongoing workforce disruptions.
He said they have a bipartisan agreement and that now is the time to upgrade America's economic support to CNMI by making sure job seekers and employers in the Marianas or throughout the United States get the same high-quality services as other Americans everywhere else in the United States does.
The CNMI and American Samoa are the only two remaining US jurisdictions ineligible to participate in the critical programs under Wagner-Peyser Act.
Sablan said for the CNMI, his bill fills a critical gap in the workforce development services as it will able to provide employees by adding the Northern Marianas to the fundamental Federal Employment Service, the Work Opportunity Tax Credit under Jobs for Veterans State Grants Program, "strengthening available services for workers and businesses needed now more than ever before."
He said the Marianas and Americans Samoa have a reliance on non-U.S. workers that has contributed to ongoing disruptions for workforce.