May 20, 2026
Ms. King-Hinds introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
To eliminate the touchback requirement for certain Commonwealth Only Workers, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Northern Mariana Islands Workforce Improvement Act
.
Sec. 2. Elimination of touchback requirement
(a) In general
Section 6(d)(7) of Public Law 94–241 (48 U.S.C. 1806(d)(7)) is amended to read as follows:
(7) Permit validity; long-term workers
(A) In general
Except as provided in subparagraph (B), a permit for a Commonwealth Only Worker shall be valid for a period not to exceed 1 year.
(B) Renewals
A permit issued under subparagraph (A) may be renewed for additional periods of not more than 1 year each, subject to the requirements of this subsection.
(C) Long-term workers
An alien who was admitted to the Commonwealth as a Commonwealth Only Transitional Worker—
(i)
during fiscal year 2015; and
(ii)
during two of fiscal years 2016, 2017, 2018, or 2019,
may be admitted as a Commonwealth Only Transitional Worker for a period that may not exceed 3 years and may be renewed for additional 3-year periods during the transition period. A permit issued pursuant to this subparagraph shall be counted toward the numerical cap for each fiscal year for which the permit is valid.
(b) Effective date
The amendments made by this section shall take effect as if included in the enactment of Public Law 115–218.