The governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, Benigno Fitial, and the territory's delegate to the US Congress, Gregorio Kilili Sablan, will be pushing for an extension of the transitional worker programme beyond the end of 2014.
They say the CNMI economy will still need foreign workers who may not necessarily qualify for the necessary H1B residency status.
Mr Fitial said he'll ask the U.S. Labor Secretary to extend the transitional worker programme.
Mr Sablan says he'd back this request so long as the CNMI sees reasonable reliance on non-resident workers whose jobs cannot still be filled by local workers.
