Chinese and Russian tourists who have been helping to save the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ (CNMI) economy from totally collapsing will soon be required to secure a United States visa prior to visiting the islands, as required by a new set of US Federal regulations.
For CNMI, any new policy that makes it harder for tourists to travel to the islands is another nail in the coffin following the demise of the once almighty garment industry.
Millions in lost tourism income are at stake once Chinese and Russian tourists stop visiting the CNMI due to the additional burden of securing a US visa.
Chinese nationals account for some 10 percent of visitor arrivals, while Russian tourists account for 1 percent.
Chinese and Russian tourists’ estimated on-island spending in 2008 reached US$38 million and US$20 million, respectively, while per-person spending for Chinese was US$967 and US$4,323 for Russians.
But if there’s one good thing to come out of the controversial CNMI-Guam Visa Waiver Programme, it’s that the CNMI has a unified voice again: “Exempt Russian and Chinese tourists from the US visa requirement come June 1, 2009 for the sake of the local economy.”
Whether the US Government will listen to CNMI’s single voice is another story.
The 14-island CNMI in the Western Pacific is the only remaining US territory that does not require a US visa among tourists.
But by June 1, 2009 when Section 702 of the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 (CNRA) extends the immigration laws of the United States to the CNMI, tourists will need a US visa to enter the islands.
President George Bush signed the CNRA in May 2008, which also gave CNMI its first non-voting delegate (Rep. Gregorio “Kilili” C. Sablan) to the US Congress. He was sworn into office on January 6.
12 countries exempt The interim final rule—published on the Federal Register (
www.regulations.gov) on January 16 and is open to a 60-day public comment—exempts only citizens of 12 countries from the visa requirement.
These are Australia, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, United Kingdom and Hong Kong.
The regulations create a Guam-CNMI Visa Waiver Programme. Unlike CNMI, Guam will not be significantly affected because the joint visa waiver only modifies its existing programme, extending the timeframe visitors can stay in the territory from 15 to 45 days and adding Hong Kong to the list of visa-exempt countries.
Another major change is the removal from the list of visa-exempt countries of four countries—Solomon Islands (because of political and civil instability), and Vanuatu, Samoa and Indonesia (for high visa refusal rates).
“But we don’t have tourists coming from Brunei or Nauru or Papua New Guinea. Why not remove them from the list of exempted countries and put Russia and China instead?” a business executive asked a visiting team of US Department of Homeland Security officials during an informational session about the new rules at Saipan’s American Memorial Park Visitors’ Center.
The criteria for determining inclusion in the list of exempt countries are: whether they provided “significant economic benefit” from the number of visitors for pleasure entering CNMI or Guam one year before the date of the immigration law’s enactment, and whether they don’t pose security risks to the CNMI or Guam.
Alex Hartman, immigration policy advisor at the US Department of Homeland Security, said although Chinese and Russian tourists were found to provide economic benefit especially to CNMI, political, security and law enforcement concerns outweighed those benefits.
But Hartman said the CNMI-Guam Visa Waiver Programme is not closing the door on Russian and Chinese tourists.
“It’s leaving the door open, which I think does provide some flexibility. I know it’s not as open as the door is now, but it’s not a done process.
“There are opportunities for change in the future,” Hartman told about 100 members of the community at the informational session.
Hartman stressed that citizens from Russia, China and other foreign countries are not banned from entering CNMI and Guam as tourists.
They just need to secure a US visa to get into the islands, similar to the requirements of going to the US mainland.
‘Not the time to be silent’
The public has 60 days from Jan. 16 to submit comments about the interim final rule.
Comments about the regulations can be mailed to: Border Security Regulations Branch, Office of International Trade, Customs and Border Protection, Mint Annes 799 9th Street, NW, Washington DC 20001.
“This is not the time to be silent. This is the time to sit down and write down what’s going to mean to you.
“To those folks that don’t think those tourism dollars don’t matter, it’s going to have an effect on the amount of taxes going into the government which in turn impacts services like public safety, education and health care,” Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Jim Arenovski told the media.
Arenovski said the impact on the CNMI economy of losing Russian and Chinese tourists will be “devastating.”
He urged community members to comment about the new rule. The Chamber of Commerce is the umbrella organisation of all business groups in the CNMI.
Tinian’s economy will likely be wiped out because approximately 70 percent of the tourists to the island—mostly checked in at the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino—are Chinese.
Saipan hotels and virtually all tourism-related businesses like airlines, car rentals and restaurants will lose millions in revenues once Chinese and Russian tourists are required to secure a US visa.
Executives of hotels catering to Russian tourists say it is difficult, costly and time consuming to apply for a US visa especially because there are only three areas in Russia where citizens can apply for such visa.
“Russian tourists rent cars for up to 10 days, unlike other tourists like Japanese who sometimes rent cars for only a half day,” a leading car rental on Saipan said.
Because Russian tourists tend to be high-income travellers, they stay at higher-priced hotels for about two weeks at a time.
The new rule also establishes six ports of entry in the CNMI in order to administer and enforce the CNMI-Guam Visa Waiver Programme and to allow for immigration inspections in the CNMI—including arrival and departure controls— under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
Customs and Border Protection is expected to incur approximately $25.8 million in costs to develop the infrastructure and $153,100 per year for port operation and maintenance.
An initial $3.7 million will also be incurred for personnel relocation, $7.8 million per year for personnel salary and $5.3 million per year for associated temporary costs, for a total of $87.3 million to $91.7 million, depending on discount rates.
Security concerns
It may take the US government 12 to 18 months to address security concerns about China and Russia and only then will the US Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with other federal and local entities, determine if the two countries would be eligible for the CNMI-Guam Visa Waiver Programme.
In short, allowing Russian and Chinese tourists to travel to the Marianas without a US visa will depend largely on how quick the US government can set up the security infrastructure in the CNMI.
Hartman said the administration of President Barack Obama could impact on how fast the new security issues could be addressed.
The CNMI’s private and public sectors want China and Russian tourists to be exempted sooner than later.
“For every six months that we don’t have these tourists, we lose millions (in income),” Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands (HANMI) president Lynn Knight said during a US Department of Homeland Security’s informational session on the new regulations.
Knight said the CNMI will lose 20 percent of its tourism income once Chinese and Russian tourists stop coming to the islands because of the US visa requirement.
DHS said the joint programme could facilitate travel between Guam and the CNMI, both US territories in the Western Pacific.
Packaged tours of both islands may appeal to some tourists, especially visitors that have already visited Guam.
Besides the US Department of Homeland Security, officials from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, who handle immigration benefits, also visited Saipan in mid-January in preparation for the opening of a US visa application support center on island.
The CNMI hopes for the possibility of having the implementation of the visa waiver programme pushed back up by up to 180 days, during which the Federal government can address security concerns about the Chinese and Russian tourists.
