Old CNMI labor and immigration records unretrievable due to obsolete technology

By Pacific Island Times News Staff

Saipan—Work permits and guest worker documents issued before the federal government took over the Northern Mariana Islands' labor and immigration are no longer available due to the retirement of the system that produced them.

The CNMI Department of Labor disclosed that the Labor and Immigration Identification and Documentation System, which generated copies of historical umbrella permits, work histories and employment certifications, has since become permanently inoperable due to aging hardware and obsolete software.

The labor department said multiple efforts to restore the system have failed.

Technical assessments determined that the equipment is no longer recoverable and replacement would require significant resources disproportionate to the limited demand for these historical records, the department said.

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During the federal transition of immigration authority in the CNMI, the department issued temporary transition conditional permits, commonly known as "umbrella permits," to authorize employment while federal immigration systems were being implemented.

These permits were temporary in nature and expired many years ago.

Following the implementation of federal immigration law under Public Law 110-229, the local labor department no longer retained authority over immigration functions, which have been assumed by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Consistent with federal transition requirements and the department's records retention practices, historical immigration case files that had exceeded their required retention period were securely destroyed.

As a result, paper copies of umbrella permits and related immigration records are no longer available.

For several years after the federal transition, the department said it had maintained limited electronic information, allowing its staff to verify and produce records upon request.

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"The department understands that these records may be important for certain individuals and regrets any inconvenience this may cause," the department said.

"However, due to the age of the records, the expiration of applicable retention periods and the permanent loss of the legacy electronic system, the department is unable to reconstruct or certify information that is no longer available."

The labor department advised individuals seeking immigration records, employment authorization history or other federal immigration documentation to contact the USCIS.

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