United States HR 8931: To eliminate the touchback requirement for certain Commonwealth Only Workers, and for other purposes.

Bill Text

I 
119THCONGRESS 
2
DSESSION 
H. R. 8931 
To eliminate the touchback requirement for certain Commonwealth Only 
Workers, and for other purposes. 
IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  
MAY20, 2026 
Ms.  K
ING-HINDSintroduced  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 eliminate the touchback requirement for certain 
Commonwealth Only Workers, 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 Workforce Improvement Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF TOUCHBACK REQUIREMENT. 6
(a)  I
NGENERAL.—Section  6(d)(7)  of  Public  Law  7
94–241 (48 U.S.C. 1806(d)(7)) is amended to read as fol-8
lows: 9
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2 
•HR  8931  IH
‘‘(7)   PERMITVALIDITY; LONG-TERMWORK-1
ERS.— 2
‘‘(A)  I
N  GENERAL.—Except  as  provided  in  3
subparagraph   (B),   a   permit   for   a   Common-4
wealth  Only  Worker  shall  be  valid  for  a  period  5
not to exceed 1 year. 6
‘‘(B)  R
ENEWALS.—A  permit  issued  under  7
subparagraph  (A)  may  be  renewed  for  addi-8
tional  periods  of  not  more  than  1  year  each,  9
subject  to  the  requirements  of  this  subsection.  10
‘‘(C)    L
ONG-TERMWORKERS.—An    alien    11
who  was  admitted  to  the  Commonwealth  as  a  12
Commonwealth Only Transitional Worker— 13
‘‘(i) during fiscal year 2015; and 14
‘‘(ii)  during  two  of  fiscal  years  2016,  15
2017, 2018, or 2019, 16
may   be   admitted   as   a   Commonwealth   Only   17
Transitional  Worker  for  a  period  that  may  not  18
exceed  3  years  and  may  be  renewed  for  addi-19
tional  3-year  periods  during  the  transition  pe-20
riod.  A  permit  issued  pursuant  to  this  subpara-21
graph  shall  be  counted  toward  the  numerical  22
cap  for  each  fiscal  year  for  which  the  permit  is  23
valid.’’. 24
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3 
•HR  8931  IH
(b)  EFFECTIVEDATE.—The  amendments  made  by  1
this  section  shall  take  effect  as  if  included  in  the  enact-2
ment of Public Law 115–218. 3
Æ 
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