Northern Mariana Islands Legal Residents Relief Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 560 To amend section 6 of the Joint Resolution entitled ‘‘A Joint Resolution to approve the Covenant To Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America, and for other purposes’’. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2021 Mr. SABLAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee 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 jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To amend section 6 of the Joint Resolution entitled ‘‘A Joint Resolution to approve the Covenant To Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America, and for other purposes’’. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Northern Mariana Is- 4 lands Legal Residents Relief Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Mar 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H560.IH H560 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 560 IH SEC. 2. LONG-TERM LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE COMMON- 1 WEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA IS- 2 LANDS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6(e)(6) of the Joint Reso- 4 lution entitled ‘‘A Joint Resolution to approve the Cov- 5 enant To Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern 6 Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States 7 of America, and for other purposes’’, approved March 24, 8 1976 (48 U.S.C. 1806; Public Law 94–241), is amend- 9 ed— 10 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 11 (A) in clause (ii)— 12 (i) in subclause (I), by inserting 13 ‘‘(aa)’’ before ‘‘shall establish a process’’; 14 (ii) by striking ‘‘; and’’ and inserting 15 ‘‘or during the 180-day period beginning 16 on the date that is 90 days after the date 17 of the enactment of the Northern Mariana 18 Islands Legal Residents Relief Act of 19 2021;’’; 20 (iii) by adding the following: 21 ‘‘(bb) WAIVER OF APPLICATION 22 DEADLINE.—The Secretary of Home- 23 land Security may accept an applica- 24 tion for CNMI Resident Status sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Mar 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H560.IH H560 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 560 IH mitted after the application deadline 1 if— 2 ‘‘(AA) the applicant is eligi- 3 ble for CNMI Resident Status; 4 and 5 ‘‘(BB) the applicant timely 6 filed an application for CNMI 7 Resident Status and made a good 8 faith effort to comply with the 9 application requirements as de- 10 termined by the Secretary.’’; 11 (iv) in subclause (II), by striking the 12 period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 13 (v) by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(III) in the case of an alien who 15 has nonimmigrant status on the date 16 on which the alien applies for CNMI 17 Resident Status, the Secretary of 18 Homeland Security shall extend such 19 nonimmigrant status and work au- 20 thorization, if applicable, through the 21 end of the 180-day period described in 22 subclause (I)(aa) or the date of adju- 23 dication of the alien’s application for 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Mar 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H560.IH H560 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 560 IH CNMI Resident Status, whichever is 1 later.’’; and 2 (B) in clause (iii), by inserting after the 3 period at the end the following: ‘‘An alien 4 granted status under this paragraph shall be 5 deemed a qualified alien under section 431 of 6 the Personal Responsibility and Work Oppor- 7 tunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 8 1641) for purposes of receiving relief or assist- 9 ance available in connection with— 10 ‘‘(I) a presidentially declared 11 major disaster or emergency under 12 section 401 or 501 of the Robert T. 13 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer- 14 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 15 or 5191); or 16 ‘‘(II) a presidentially declared na- 17 tional emergency under section 201 of 18 the National Emergencies Act (50 19 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.).’’; 20 (2) in subparagraph (B)— 21 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘on June 25, 22 2019, or on December 31, 2018,’’ and inserting 23 ‘‘on December 31, 2020, June 25, 2019, or De- 24 cember 31, 2018,’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Mar 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H560.IH H560 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 560 IH (B) in clause (iii), by inserting ‘‘except in 1 the case of an alien who meets the requirements 2 of subclause (III) or (VI) of clause (v),’’ before 3 ‘‘resided continuously and lawfully’’; and 4 (C) in clause (v)— 5 (i) in subclause (III), by striking 6 ‘‘subclause (I) or (II)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 7 clause (I), (II), (IV), (V), (VI), (VII), or 8 (VIII)’’; 9 (ii) in subclause (IV), by striking ‘‘; 10 or’’ and inserting a semicolon; 11 (iii) in subclause (V), by striking the 12 period at the end and inserting a semi- 13 colon; and 14 (iv) by adding at the end the fol- 15 lowing: 16 ‘‘(VI) was admitted to the Com- 17 monwealth as a Commonwealth Only 18 Transitional Worker during fiscal year 19 2015, and during every subsequent 20 fiscal year beginning before the date 21 of the enactment of the Northern 22 Mariana Islands U.S. Workforce Act 23 of 2018 (Public Law 115–218); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Mar 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H560.IH H560 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 560 IH ‘‘(VII) resided in the Northern 1 Mariana Islands as an investor under 2 Commonwealth immigration law, and 3 is presently a resident classified as a 4 CNMI-only nonimmigrant under sec- 5 tion 101(a)(15)(E)(ii) of the Immigra- 6 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 7 1101(a)(15)(E)(ii)); or 8 ‘‘(VIII) resided in the Northern 9 Mariana Islands as a guestworker 10 under Commonwealth immigration 11 law for at least 5 years prior to May 12 8, 2008, and is presently a resident 13 classified as a Commonwealth Only 14 Transitional Worker.’’; 15 (3) in subparagraph (C)(ii), by striking ‘‘180- 16 period’’ and inserting ‘‘180-day period’’; and 17 (4) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(F) ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS FOR CNMI 19 RESIDENTS.—An alien with CNMI Resident 20 Status may adjust his or her status to that of 21 an alien lawfully admitted for permanent resi- 22 dence 5 years after the date of enactment of the 23 Northern Mariana Islands Legal Residents Re- 24 lief Act of 2021 or 5 years after the date on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Mar 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H560.IH H560 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 560 IH which CNMI Resident Status is granted, which- 1 ever is later.’’. 2 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—Section 6(b)(1) of 3 Public Law 94–241 (48 U.S.C. 1806(b)(1)) is amended— 4 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 5 (A) by striking ‘‘(8 USC 1101(a)(15)(H))’’ 6 and inserting ‘‘(8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H))’’; 7 and 8 (B) by striking ‘‘(8 USC 1184(g))’’ and in- 9 serting ‘‘(8 U.S.C. 1184(g))’’; and 10 (2) in subparagraph (B)(i), by striking ‘‘con- 11 tact’’ and inserting ‘‘contract’’. 12 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 13 this section shall take effect on the date of enactment of 14 this Act. 15 SEC. 3. TEMPORARY LABOR CERTIFICATION. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6(d)(2) of Public Law 17 94–241 (48 U.S.C. 1806(d)(2)) is amended in subpara- 18 graph (B), by striking ‘‘an annual’’ and inserting ‘‘a bien- 19 nial’’. 20 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 21 this section shall take effect on the date of enactment of 22 this Act. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Mar 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H560.IH H560 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 560 IH SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL TIME FOR RECEIPT OF VISA. 1 Section 6(d)(3)(D)(iii) of Public Law 94–241 (48 2 U.S.C. 1806(d)(3)(D)(iii)) is amended in subclause 3 (I)(bb) by striking ‘‘10 days’’ and inserting ‘‘90 days’’. 4 SEC. 5. AMENDMENTS TO THE REQUIREMENT TO REMAIN 5 OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6(d)(7) of Public Law 7 94–241 (48 U.S.C. 1806(d)(7)) is amended— 8 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 9 (A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by 10 inserting ‘‘and (C)’’ after ‘‘subparagraph (B)’’; 11 and 12 (B) in clause (ii)— 13 (i) by inserting ‘‘at any time after the 14 expiration of the first renewal period’’ 15 after ‘‘30 days’’; and 16 (ii) by inserting ‘‘third’’ after ‘‘sub- 17 mission of a’’; and 18 (2) by adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘(C) DEFERRAL.—IN GENERAL.—The 20 Secretary of Homeland Security may defer the 21 requirement to remain outside of the United 22 States during or in connection to— 23 ‘‘(i) a presidentially declared major 24 disaster or emergency under section 401 or 25 501 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Mar 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H560.IH H560 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 560 IH lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 1 U.S.C. 5170 or 5191); or 2 ‘‘(ii) a presidentially declared national 3 emergency under section 201 of the Na- 4 tional Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et 5 seq.).’’. 6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 7 this section shall take effect as if included in the enact- 8 ment of Public Law 115–218. 9 SEC. 6. QUALIFIED ALIEN. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6(d) of Public Law 94– 11 241 (48 U.S.C. 1806(d)) is further amended by adding 12 at the end the following: 13 ‘‘(8) QUALIFIED ALIEN.—An alien granted sta- 14 tus under this subsection shall be deemed a qualified 15 alien under section 431 of the Personal Responsi- 16 bility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 17 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1641) for purposes of receiving re- 18 lief or assistance available in connection with— 19 ‘‘(A) a presidentially declared major dis- 20 aster or emergency under section 401 or 501 of 21 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 22 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 or 23 5191); or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Mar 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H560.IH H560 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 560 IH ‘‘(B) a presidentially declared national 1 emergency under section 201 of the National 2 Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.).’’. 3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 4 this section shall take effect on the date of enactment of 5 this Act. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Mar 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H560.IH H560 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS