There is a reprieve for foreign workers in the Northern Marianas whose work permits are expiring.
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a bill to increase by 2,000 the numerical cap on the CNMI-Only Transition Worker Non-immigrant Visa program.
The current cap of 12,998 was reached in early October and resulted in hundreds of foreign workers having to leave the islands and created a worker shortage that threatened the CNMI's economy.
The bill, authored by the CNMI delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan, now heads to the Senate.
The CNMI hopes the measure would be signed into law by President Barrack Obama before he leaves office on January 20th, 2017.
