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Explore visasI-129CWOverview

CW-1 / CW-2 / E-2CNorthern Mariana Islands (CNMI-only) workers and investors

For workers hired by an employer in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), their spouses and children, and long-term CNMI investors already in E-2C status. These statuses are valid only in the CNMI.

At a glance

How you apply
For CW-1, the CNMI employer first gets a temporary labor certification (TLC) from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), then files Form I-129CW with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Once it is approved, a worker outside the U.S. applies for a CW-1 visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate (if a visa is required); for a worker lawfully present in the CNMI, the petition also serves as the application for CW-1 status there
Checked Oct 18, 2026[1,2]
How long you can stay
CW-1: an approved petition is valid for up to 1 year (up to 3 years for a long-term worker), and the employer requests an extension by filing a new petition; after three consecutive validity periods, a worker who is not a long-term worker must spend at least 30 continuous days outside the U.S., including the CNMI, before a new petition is filed. The CW-1 program is scheduled to end on December 31, 2029. E-2C: up to 2 years at first, and extensions may be granted in increments of up to 2 years until the transition period ends on December 31, 2029
Checked Oct 18, 2026[1,2,3]
Where the status is valid
Only in the CNMI. Entry, work and residence anywhere else in the U.S., including Guam, require the appropriate visa or visa waiver. CW-1 and CW-2 holders may pass through Guam on a direct trip between the CNMI and a foreign place (a direct Guam transit)
Checked Oct 18, 2026[2,4]
Can family come
Yes. A CW-1 worker's spouse and unmarried children under 18 can seek CW-2 status, which does not allow work. An E-2C investor's spouse and children can receive E-2C status too, and the spouse (unless the investor is a retiree investor) can apply for permission to work in the CNMI
Checked Oct 18, 2026[1,3,4]
Main USCIS fee
Form I-129CW: $1,015 on paper or $965 online, or $510 for a small employer or nonprofit, plus additional fees for each petition and each worker (see Fees)
Checked Oct 18, 2026[5]

What CW-1, CW-2 and E-2C are

The Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 extended U.S. immigration law to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), with transition rules unique to the CNMI, and the Northern Mariana Islands U.S. Workforce Act of 2018 extended that transition program through December 31, 2029. Under these rules, CW-1 lets CNMI employers apply for permission to employ workers who are not eligible for any other nonimmigrant worker category, CW-2 is for those workers' spouses and unmarried children under 18, and E-2C lets certain long-term investors from the former CNMI permit system remain lawfully in the CNMI through December 31, 2029 while they resolve their immigration status.[1,3,6]

Who qualifies for CW-1

  • During the transition period, and subject to the yearly cap, you may be classified as CW-1 if an employer petitions for you; you will work in the CNMI in an occupational category the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has designated as needing foreign workers to supplement the resident workforce; you are not present anywhere in the U.S. other than the CNMI, and if you are in the CNMI you are lawfully present there; you are admissible to the U.S. or have a waiver of each applicable ground of inadmissibility; and you are ineligible for any other nonimmigrant worker classification. Lawfully present means you were lawfully admitted or paroled into the CNMI on or after November 28, 2009 and remain in lawful status (or, if paroled, your parole period has not expired); admission or parole as a visitor for business or pleasure (B-1/B-2, including under a visa-free travel provision or the parole of certain visitors from Russia and the People's Republic of China) does not count. You may not be employed in a construction and extraction occupation unless you are a long-term worker, meaning you were admitted or granted status as CW-1 during fiscal year 2015 and during each of fiscal years 2016 through 2018.[1,2,3]
  • The cap (numerical limitation) limits how many people can be issued CW-1 visas or otherwise given CW-1 status in a fiscal year, which runs from October 1 to September 30. Everyone counts toward it unless already counted in the same fiscal year, including long-term workers, who are counted every year of a multi-year validity period. Unused numbers do not carry over, and once USCIS receives enough petitions to reach the cap, it stops processing further cap-subject petitions for that fiscal year.[1,2]
  • The regulation sets the CW-1 cap at 7,000 for fiscal year 2027, 6,000 for fiscal year 2028, 5,000 for fiscal year 2029 and 1,000 for the first quarter of fiscal year 2030. Within the cap, 200 numbers are reserved for healthcare practitioner, technical and support occupations and 60 for occupations related to CNMI public utilities services; DHS may adjust these reservations by notice in the Federal Register.[2]

What the CNMI employer must do

  • Before filing, the employer gets a prevailing wage determination and then a TLC from DOL. The TLC confirms that there are not enough U.S. workers in the CNMI who are able, willing, qualified and available at the time and place needed, and that employing a CW-1 worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. The TLC application can be filed no more than 120 calendar days before the date of need for a new worker, or no more than 180 calendar days before current CW-1 status expires for an extension.[1,2]
  • The employer must be a legitimate business, which includes being a participant in good standing in the E-Verify program, and must comply with all federal and CNMI employment requirements such as nondiscrimination, occupational safety and minimum wage. With the petition it attests, among other things, that it will pay at least the highest of the CNMI minimum wage, the federal minimum wage, or the DOL prevailing wage for the occupation in the CNMI.[1,2]
  • After approval, the employer must pay the reasonable cost of the worker's return transportation to their last place of foreign residence if it dismisses the worker for any reason before the end of the authorized admission. If the petition was approved for a validity period of 6 months or more, the employer must also file Form I-129CWR, Semiannual Report for CW-1 Employers, every 6 months after the validity start date, up to and including the sixth month before the validity end date, each time within a 60-day window that opens 30 days before and closes 30 days after the due date; USCIS may revoke the approved petition or deny future petitions if the employer does not comply.[1,2]

From petition to CW-1 status

  1. Employer files Form I-129CW

    The employer files Form I-129CW with the fees and the DOL-certified TLC; USCIS rejects any I-129CW filed without an approved TLC. Every worker must be named, and one petition can cover several workers only if the employer requests the same action for each of them, they will work in the same occupational category, under the same terms and conditions, for the same period and in the same location, and all are requested as long-term workers or all as non-long-term workers. If you will work for more than one employer, each employer must file its own petition with fees. Premium processing is not available for Form I-129CW.[1,2,7]

  2. USCIS decides

    If the worker is in the CNMI and a grant of status there is requested, USCIS will in most cases contact the employer to say the worker must go to the USCIS Application Support Center in Saipan for fingerprints and a photograph. USCIS mails the approval notice to the employer, who should give the worker a copy; it shows whether CW-1 status was granted in the CNMI (with a Form I-94 attached) or whether the worker must apply for a CW-1 visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad. If USCIS denies a CW-1 petition, the denial can be appealed to the USCIS Administrative Appeals Office (AAO); a denial of CW-1 or CW-2 status within the CNMI, or of an application for change or extension of status, cannot be appealed.[1,2]

  3. Visa and admission

    A worker outside the U.S. applies for the CW-1 visa (if one is required) and, either way, must then ask U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for admission in CW-1 classification. If the worker is outside the CNMI or approved for consular processing, the worker must apply for admission within 10 days after the petition validity period begins; otherwise USCIS may, in its discretion, send the employer a notice of intent to revoke (NOIR) the petition, which the employer can respond to.[1]

Length of stay, the 30-day departure rule and changing jobs

A CW-1 worker is admitted for the petition's validity period plus up to 10 days before it begins and 10 days after it ends, but may work only during the validity period. A worker who is not a long-term worker cannot be granted CW-1 status beyond three consecutive petition validity periods unless they leave and stay outside the United States, including the CNMI, for a continuous period of at least 30 days after the third period expires and before a new petition is filed (the temporary departure or touchback requirement). Changing employers does not, by itself, reset this count.[1,2]

To change jobs, the new employer must file its own I-129CW. You may start working for it once it has filed a nonfrivolous petition before your authorized stay expires, provided you have not worked without authorization in the United States since your lawful admission; that permission continues until the petition is decided and ends if it is denied. If your job ends, you are not treated as out of status for the 30 days after the termination if a new employer files a nonfrivolous petition within those 30 days and you otherwise keep to the terms of your status. If no petition is filed within 30 days, you must leave the CNMI and are considered out of status from the date your CW-1 employment ended; a petition filed after that requires an approved petition and a CW visa issued at a consulate outside the CNMI before you can return and start the new job.[1,2]

If your employer files an extension petition for you before your CW-1 status expires and your status then expires while that petition is pending, you are authorized to keep working for the same employer for up to 240 days from the date your authorized stay expired. If USCIS denies the extension within those 240 days, that permission ends when you are notified of the denial.[3,8]

Spouse and children (CW-2)

A CW-1 worker's spouse and unmarried children under 18 can accompany or follow to join the worker in CW-2 status if they are not present anywhere in the U.S. other than the CNMI, are lawfully present if they are in the CNMI, and are admissible or have a waiver. Family members already in the CNMI apply on Form I-539, which can be filed together with the employer's I-129CW; they must be lawfully present when they file, and CW-2 status cannot be approved until the CW-1 petition is approved. CW-2 status does not allow work and is not subject to the 30-day departure rule; it ends when the worker's CW-1 status ends, on a child's 18th birthday, if the family member violates status, or when the program ends, whichever comes first.[1,2]

E-2C: CNMI-only investors

  • E-2C is only for people who were lawfully admitted to the CNMI in long-term investor status under CNMI immigration law before November 28, 2009 and held that status on that date, have continuously maintained residence in the CNMI, still maintain the investment that was the basis for that status, and are otherwise admissible to the U.S. It is closed to newcomers: the initial petition (Form I-129 with Supplement E) had to be filed before January 18, 2013, and USCIS rejects initial petitions filed after that date.[4,6]
  • If you hold E-2C status, you request an extension by filing a new Form I-129 and Supplement E with the required evidence and fee; extensions may be granted in increments of up to 2 years until the end of the transition period. To qualify, you must show that you have continuously maintained the terms of your E-2C status, that you are physically present in the CNMI when you file, and that you did not leave while the application was pending.[4,6]
  • An E-2C investor may work only in the CNMI, for the enterprise that is the basis for the CNMI Foreign Investment Certificate or Long-Term Business Certificate, and only to the extent that certificate authorized; an investor whose status is based on a retiree investment certificate may not work. The investor's spouse and children can receive E-2C status if they are admissible and accompany or follow to join; the spouse, except the spouse of a retiree investor, can apply for work authorization limited to the CNMI. Family members' E-2C status ends on the same day as the investor's, or for a minor child, on the child's 21st birthday.[3,4,8]

Fees

USCIS amounts from Form G-1055, edition 10/07/26, and 8 CFR 106.2; visa fees from 22 CFR 22.1
ItemAmountWho pays and when
Form I-129CW, CW-1 petition$1,015 paper / $965 online; $510 (paper or online) for a small employer or nonprofitEmployer, with the petition. Certain petitioners may be eligible for a fee waiver of this general filing fee
Asylum Program Fee (with Form I-129CW or Form I-129)$600 / $300 / $0Petitioner: regular petitioner / small employer / nonprofit
CNMI education funding fee (with Form I-129CW)$210 per worker, per yearEmployer, for each worker and for each year or partial year of requested validity; cannot be waived
Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee (with Form I-129CW)$50 per petitionEmployer; cannot be waived
Form I-129CWR, semiannual report$0Employer
Form I-539, CW-2 status for family members in the CNMI$470 paper / $420 onlineFamily members applying, with Form I-539
Form I-129 with Supplement E, E-2C extension$1,015 paper / $965 online; $510 for a small employer or nonprofit; plus additional fees (see the Asylum Program Fee row)E-2C applicant. An applicant for E-2 CNMI investor status may be eligible for a fee waiver (Form I-912)
Visa application fee, E-2C (E category)$315 per personEach visa applicant
Visa issuance fee (reciprocity fee)Depends on your nationality (set on a reciprocal basis)Visa applicant, if one applies to your nationality
High confidenceChecked Oct 18, 2026[3,5,9,10]

Recent policy changes

Recent policy changes

Official

Updates

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Answers come from our sourced database and your own timeline, sorted into fact, public data, inference and unknown. No AI model is used in this version, so questions outside what we cover get an honest "not covered".

Questions people ask

Can I use CW-1 status to go to Guam or the U.S. mainland?

Only with an appropriate visa or visa waiver for that trip, except for passing through Guam as described below. CW-1 and CW-2 status is valid only in the CNMI, and generally anyone in that status who travels or tries to travel to any other part of the U.S. without an appropriate visa or visa waiver is treated as having violated it. You may pass through Guam on a direct itinerary between the CNMI and a foreign place, with a stopover or connection in Guam and no other place; CBP decides at the time of travel whether a trip qualifies. To come back to the CNMI from abroad, you need a CW-1, CW-2 or other appropriate visa.[1,2]

Can I apply for a green card while in CW-1 or E-2C status?

CW-1 and CW-2 holders may apply to change to another nonimmigrant status or to adjust status to permanent residence if otherwise eligible, and may keep CW status while lawfully seeking a green card, as long as they intend to leave the CNMI voluntarily at the end of their authorized stay. For CW and E-2C visa applicants, the State Department allows both immigrant and nonimmigrant intent and does not require a residence abroad; the consular officer must still be satisfied that you presently intend to leave the CNMI when your authorized stay ends, and the possibility that you may later apply to change or adjust status is not by itself a reason to refuse the visa. Whether a green card path fits your facts is something an immigration attorney can assess.[2,3]

What happens to CW and E-2C status after December 31, 2029?

Under the current regulations the transition period ends on December 31, 2029. CW-1 and CW-2 status expires at the end of the transitional worker program if it has not ended earlier, no one can be admitted to the CNMI in CW-1 or CW-2 status after the program ends, and no CW-1 or CW-2 visa will be valid for travel to the CNMI after that. E-2C status automatically terminates when the transition period expires. If you plan to stay longer, an immigration attorney can review which other status may fit your facts.[2,4]

Related categories

Content last reviewed: Oct 18, 2026 · General information, not legal advice.

Sources

  1. 1.CW-1: CNMI-Only Transitional Worker - USCISUSCIS · Agency page · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  2. 2.8 CFR 214.2(w) - CNMI-Only Transitional WorkereCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  3. 3.9 FAM 402.18 NONIMMIGRANT VISAS SPECIFICALLY FOR THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS – CW AND E-2C VISASU.S. Department of State (Foreign Affairs Manual) · USCIS Policy Manual · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  4. 4.8 CFR 214.2(e) - Treaty traders and investorseCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  5. 5.Fee Schedule (Form G-1055) - USCISUSCIS · Form / instructions · Checked Oct 12, 2026
  6. 6.E-2 Visa: CNMI-Only Investor - USCISUSCIS · Agency page · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  7. 7.I-129CW, Petition for a CNMI-Only Nonimmigrant Transitional Worker - USCISUSCIS · Form / instructions · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  8. 8.8 CFR 274a.12 - Classes of aliens authorized to accept employmenteCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  9. 9.8 CFR 106.2 - USCIS feeseCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  10. 10.22 CFR 22.1 - Schedule of fees for consular services (Department of State)eCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026