Family-based Green Cards Filing Fees Update

MLSC published a blog post on May 22, 2009 regarding family-based green card fees and costs in the CNMI. Fees will increase this November 2010, and so here is an update to the numbers. (You can still file with the lower fees through November 22, 2010.)

GREEN CARD FEES & COSTS
Form		Required with Form	Fee/Cost
I-130	Petition for Alien Relative	• Evidence of relationship (e.g., marriage certificate, joint account information, etc.) • If previously married, evidence of termination of marriage • 1 passport photo • G-325A biographical info	$420
I-485	Adjustment to Permanent Status Application	• G-325A biographical info • Copy of passport • Copy of CNMI immigration permit • Birth certificate • 2 passport photos • Police clearance or, if criminal history, provide evidence • I-693 Medical report • fingerprinting fee	$985 $80
I-864	Affidavit of Support for Immediate Relative	• Most recent tax filing (w/ W2 form)	--
Total USCIS Fees			$1,485
Costs
Medical exam for I-693 report		Estimate only. Prices range based on what tests are needed for the applicant.	$350-$500
Attorney		Estimate only. Fees vary.	$1,000
Total Est. Costs			$1,500
GRANT TOTAL (USCIS FEES & COSTS)			$2,985

Continuing in effect: family-based green card applicants can have their interviews conducted in Saipan at the recently-opened Application Support Center in the TSL Plaza, Beach Road in Garapan.

We hope to get a better sense of what private attorneys are charging when we host an immigration training in December 2010.

Medical exams may depend on your age, and for children whether vaccinations are up-to-date. You can run a search of authorized health care providers on the USCIS website's by searching "Find civil surgeons" and entering the zip code. Here is the current list that is generated when typing 96950 for the CNMI:

•Dr. Ahmad Al-Alou, Pacific Medical Center P.O. Box 501908 CK, Saipan, MP 96950 (670) 233-8100 •Dr. Anthony R. Stearns, Marianas Medical Center, PO Box 5006 CHRB, Saipan, MP 96950(670) 234-3925 •Dr. Christine Brown, Island Medical Center, P.O. Box 504669, Saipan, MP 96950(670) 235-8880 •Dr. Richard Brostrom, Department of Public Health, Commonwealth Health Center, P.O. Box 409 CK, Saipan, MP 96950 (670) 234-8950

Note that although Dr. Brostrom at CHC is still listed, he has left the CNMI.

We hope you find this helpful. As always, please feel free to leave a comment or advise us if any information we provide is inaccurate or out-of-date.

Diversity Lottery

The United Stated Department of State sponsors a "diversity lottery" where it gives away US green cards to certain qualifying aliens in a random lottery process. It will OPEN applications for the 2012 lottery on October 5, 2010 and CLOSE on November 3, 2010.

What is this Diversity Lottery Program?
The program is explained on the State Department's website here. Basically, it is an invitation to aliens from countries that have low immigration rates to come to the US. It helps balance the diversity of foreigners present in the US and enriches the population with this diversity.

Who can apply?
Essentially, the lottery is open only to aliens from countries with relatively low immigration numbers into the US. For example, aliens from the Philippines and those born in mainland China do not qualify. This year's list of countries/citizens excluded from the lottery are BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PERU, PHILIPPINES, POLAND, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM.

If you are an alien from any country other than those excluded, you may be eligible to apply on-line for the green-card give-away.

You must also be
1)outside of the United States; or
2)present in the US and have entered lawfully and "been inspected" and be lawfully present; or
3) present in the US despite unlawful entry/no inspection if and only if eligible for 245 (i) protection [--an expired amnesty program: beneficiary of a Form I-130 immigrant visa petition ("Petition for Alien Relative") or Form I-140 immigrant visa petition ("Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker") that was filed with the INS on or before April 30, 2001, or the beneficiary of an application for labor certification filed with the Department of Labor on or before April 30, 2001]

What does it cost?
There is NO FEE!

Are there any other eligibility requirements?
There are other eligibility requirements:.

Education or work status
Alien applicantss must have either 1)a high-school diploma or 2) have recent "qualifying occupation" experience (2 years experience during the past 5 years). You can learn more about qualifying occupations on the State Department's website, but it's not all that simple. You have to look at both the "job zone" and the "specific vocational preference" and meet both levels of qualifying occupation requirements to take advantage of this alternative.

One and only one successful application
Alien applicants must list all family members and submit individual photos of each family member, even if the family member is a US citizen or permanent resident already.

You may submit only one completed application. A second application that is also proper in all regards would disqualify the applicant-both the first and subsequent applications would be withdrawn.

And post selection criteria
Even if you win, you may have to meet additional requirements (good character, etc.). Also, the State Department notifies more than 50,000 people to "apply" for the final phase because some don't make it through this process--so you could be notified that you are in the final selected group and still not win if the 50,000 green cards are issued before your number is up.

How do you apply?
The applicant must be submitted through an on-line process. This means the photos must be scanned to certain specifications, and all questions answered, etc. You can see the instructions online here.

What are the chances of winning?
According to "About.com" the chances are about 1% that you'll get the notice and once you have that, 50% that you'll actually get a green card. In other words--very slim (about .5%)

How do you find out if you're a winner?
There is an on-line status checker. Notices will begin in May 2011. The actual green cards will be available starting in October 2011 through September 2012.

MLSC's Back To School Project

We held our annual Back-To-School Project this August and September 2010. This is a direct pass-through project where we collect money and school supplies from donors, primarily in the CNMI Bar Association, and then distribute everything in the form of school supplies to students in grades 1 through 12.

The good news for SY 2010-11 is that we collected $1190 in cash donations and approximately $915 in in-kind donations. (I say approximately because we estimate the value of the donations and don't have exact value for all items contributed.)

We distributed 77 book bags with supplies--binder, filler paper, folder, notebook, pencil case with pens, pencils, erasers and pencil sharpeners--and then depending on the grade, some additional components: the elementary add-ons (construction paper, glue, scissors, crayons, fancy pencils); the middle school add-ons (graph paper, compass, protracter, art eraser, scotch tape or index cards); the high school complement (white paper, art eraser, highlighter, white-out tape or fluid).

We also distributed all in-kind donations, so each book-bag recipient received a unique donation.

In addition to the 77 book bags with supplies, we gave out 24 small kits--containing 2 notebooks, a pack of 10 pencils and a box of crayons each. These kits were all identical (except for the colors of the notebooks) and were made possible by an in-kind donation after school started that helped us reach students on our list when we had run out of money and other supplies.

We were not very successful in reaching out to Tinian and Rota--distributing only 11 book bags with supplies to these islands' students, despite our efforts. We are happy that we did get something to each island, however.

We received less in overall cash and supplies this year than in 2009, perhaps reflecting the economic realities here; but interestingly enough, these donations came from more people than who donated in 2009--so generally the donations were smaller, but more people were reaching into their pockets to help our students.

And we really appreciate it.

There were many happy smiles on the recipients faces; and honesty, too. One recipient kept the school supplies that were needed for her children but said someone else had donated book bags to her, so she gave back the new ones we were going to give her back and then we gave them to two other kids who were not otherwise going to get backpacks this year.

All in all, this was another successful event. Thanks to everyone who helped.

Community Education--House Legislative Initiative 17-1

On the November ballot, voters in the CNMI will be asked to consider three proposed amendments to the CNMI Constitution. Here is information on one of them: House Legislative Initiative 17-1.

This legislative initiative amends Article X of the CNMI Constitution by adding a new section (10). The new provision authorizes the Commonwealth to issue pension obligation bonds (POBs), not to exceed “the Commonwealth’s actuarially determined unfunded accrued liability to the Retirement Fund.” The proceeds of the bonds are deposited into the NMIRF’s “defined benefit plan” trust fund and invested with other monies by the NMIRF. The bonds may be issued only upon 2/3rds approval of each House of the Legislature, in compliance with Article X, section (3). The debt incurred by issuing the bonds may exceed 10% of the aggregate assessed valuation of the real property in the CNMI and may be authorized for operating expenses, as part of the exception from compliance with Article X, section (4).


PROS: 1. Generally, the provision would allow the CNMI government to borrow money to pay the NMIRF. Putting money into the NMIRF would help make sure that the CNMI retirees in the Defined Benefits Plan receive future benefits when due.
Stated another way, the provision would provide authority to the CNMI government that it currently does not have, giving it the flexibility to use pension obligation bonds (POBs) to address the existing NMIRF unfunded liability. POBs are essentially a loan the CNMI would secure and would provide a large amount of money to the NMIRF now to cover part or all of the unfunded liability, thus making sure retirees are paid as their benefits are due.
2. Other jurisdictions have used POBs for their unfunded accrued liability.
3. If the debt (POBs) can be obtained at less than 9% interest per year, the CNMI may realize savings by paying the bond obligation at a cheaper rate than if it paid on the NMIRF judgment, which accrues interest at 9% per annum.
4. If the debt (POBs) can be paid over a longer period of time (typically 30 years), then the CNMI may have a lower monthly payment installment, alleviating some of the financial pressure on the CNMI.


CONS: 1. The CNMI cannot get out of debt by borrowing money. It will either be obligated to the NMIRF or to the POBs investors.
2. POB investors will not be as lenient as the NMIRF in collecting on the obligation. The CNMI could be pushed to bankruptcy.
3. The POB debt created will be owed by future generations of the CNMI, even though the benefit is only to those retirees currently in the Defined Benefit Plan. No more government workers may join the Defined Benefit Plan (DBP).
4. The causes of the unfunded accrued liability are numerous and include excessive benefits to retirees, lawful (and unlawful) double-dipping, non-payment by the CNMI government and questionable investment decisions by the NMIRF. These problems will continue if “easy” money is made available through POBs; the only way to force an end to the causes of the NMIRF’s financial problems is to require that the causes be fixed first.
5. The only limit on the amount of the debt that the CNMI might incur through the POBs is the amount of the “unfunded accrued liability” owed by the CNMI to the NMIRF. If the CNMI government fails to make normal contributions in the future (as it has in the past), that liability can increase. Other events could negatively impact the unfunded accrued liability. The CNMI government could then incur more POB debt. Even recognizing that the CNMI government’s normal contributions will decrease as the size of the DBP participants declines, the potential for debt through issuing POBs on future generations that will not benefit is staggering.
6. The proposed constitutional amended misuses commonly understood financial terms which creates confusion and undercuts the benefit to the NMIRF. Unfunded accrued liability should refer to the NMIRF’s obligation to its retirees for which is does not have funds on hand and for which the retirees have a contractual right to receive. It should not be used to refer to the CNMI government’s unpaid normal contributions to the NMIRF. By misusing the terms in the constitutional provision and referring to unfunded accrued liability of the CNMI to the NMIRF, the proposed Constitutional provision creates an ambiguity as to whether unfunded accrued liability that is due to other purposes (such as non-payment by autonomous agencies or a payment scheme that is inadequate) can be the basis for POBs. For example, the CNMI government’s current unfunded accrued liability to the NMIRF is about $282 million. The NMIRF’s unfunded accrued liability to retirees is about $400 million. As this constitutional provision is written, even if the CNMI obtains POBs to the limit of its obligation of $282 million, the NMIRF will still have unfunded accrued liabilities in excess of $100 million.
7. The proposed constitutional amendment carves out an exception for POBs from the general limit on public debt. Making this exception for the NMIRF to the well-structured Article X limit on public debt opens a “Pandora’s Box” and may encourage reliance on borrowing as a means of addressing financial problems by the government for other perceived financial crises. Increasing revenues and limiting spending are safer and more reliable methods of addressing financial issues.

SUMMARY: Proponents of the provision view this as essential to the health of the NMIRF; opponents view it as extremely detrimental to the health of the CNMI and a large step in the wrong direction.

Community Education--House Legislative Initiative 16-18

On the November ballot, voters in the CNMI will be asked to consider three proposed amendments to the CNMI Constitution. Here is information on one of them: House Legislative Initiative 16-18.

HLI 16-18

This legislative initiative amends Article XI, section 5(g) of the CNMI Constitution by adding a new phrase The new provision authorizes the “corporation” (I think this means now the Department of Public Lands) to use up to 20% of its revenues for land compensation claims before transferring its funds to the Marianas Public Land Trust.


PROS: The provision attempts to address the long-standing problem of unpaid claims for private land that has been taken by the government for public use. It does this by authorizing use of up to 20% of income from public lands each year for payment on these obligations before the money is transferred to the MPLT for investment and savings.

This provision identifies a source of money that is related to public lands to be used for payment for private lands that have been acquired for public use.

It also protects the income stream from those private lands by limiting the amount that can be taken to 20%

It has a stated purpose of allowing such income to be used to pay on court judgments for land compensation claims, to overcome past arguments against such use.



CONS: Although the provision authorizes the possible use of income from public lands, it does not require that such income be used or that any land compensation claim actually be paid.

There is no factual basis stated in the initiative to support the cap of 20%. This figure seems to be arbitrary and it is impossible to discern whether it is reasonable, too high or too low.

The 20% cap relates to revenue. It is unclear what the intent and effect of the language means: does it apply to net revenue after the corporation has retained necessary amounts for reasonable expenses, etc., or does it refer to gross revenues, calculated on all income the corporation receives?

It is also unclear whether the addition of this provision to the Constitution will allow litigants who are owed land compensation to compel the corporation to pay their judgments unless the corporation can show it has already reached the 20% cap.



SUMMARY: The Legislative Initiative amends the CNMI Constitution to provide authorization to use up to 20% of income from public lands to pay land compensation claims. It does not compel any payment. The 20% cap is not related to any identifiable plan, scheme or budget that is set forth in the initiative.

Community Education--House Legislative Initiative 16-13

On the November ballot, voters in the CNMI will be asked to consider three proposed amendments to the CNMI Constitution. Here is information on one of them: House Legislative Initiative 16-13.

HLI 16-13

This legislative initiative amends Article III, section 20 of the CNMI Constitution by adding a new subsection (c). The new provision prohibits the CNMI Legislature from increasing benefits to members of the Retirement Fund unless the CNMI government has satisfied its obligations to the Fund under the law or unless the Retirement System is fully funded.


PROS: The provision attempts to prevent further harm to the Retirement Fund from the pressure of providing greater benefits to its members. It prevents the Legislature from an outright increase of benefit payouts.

CONS: The protection is weak. There is no protection against increasing costs to the Fund that could occur from other means like raising salaries of its staff or from incurring other obligations that could run the Fund into the ground. It is also unclear how broad the scope of the prohibition is—for example does it encompass rule changes on double-dipping; would it protect against full benefits for Austerity Friday employees? It leaves room for debate and disagreement on whether the conditions for overcoming the protection have been met—if the CNMI and the NMIRF disagree on whether all obligations have been paid, whose opinion controls? If the CNMI goes bankrupt and its obligation to the Fund is discharged, has it satisfied its obligation? If the CNMI pays all of its obligation but that is not enough to fully fund the system, can benefits still be raised?

SUMMARY: The Legislative Initiative amends the CNMI Constitution to provide some protection to the Retirement Fund that presently does not exist. That protection may not be strong enough to address the many and varied problems described in the initiative, but it is more than presently exists.

Back-To-School Project STARTING

The Marianas Office is once again gearing up for its BACK TO SCHOOL PROJECT. Every year we distribute free book bags containing school supplies to needy kids in grades 1 through 12.

We need donations!!!
If you want to help, we accept in-kind or in-cash donations. Typically, we give a back-pack with a binder, filler paper, folder, notebook composition book, pens, pencils and erasers. Extras may include a pencil bag, crayons-glue-scissors-ruler for grade school kids, protractor-compass-graph paper for middle school kids, and typing paper-correction tape-art eraser for high school kids. We will also distribute all school supplies donated, so feel free to choose what you would like to see in the hands of kids--like dictionaries or other books, calculators, colored pencils, etc.

Call or e-mail anyone here and we'll arrange pick-up of your donation.

About recipients:
If you know someone you think especially needy, let us know. We are compiling our list now.

We try to reach out to kids in Saipan, Tinian and Rota. If we gave back-packs last year, we are not likely to give another one this year. We target the neediest and so we will want/need information about the family's financial situation. (We already have this information about our clients.)