Saipan, CNMI — The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Department of Labor is advising the public that it is unable to provide copies of historical umbrella permits, work histories, or employment certifications derived from the former Labor and Immigration Identification and Documentation System (LIIDS).
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 CNMI Department of Labor no longer retained authority over immigration functions. 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 maintained limited electronic information through the Labor and Immigration Identification and Documentation System (LIIDS). This legacy system allowed staff, as a courtesy, to verify whether an umbrella permit had been issued or to confirm limited work history information upon request.
Unfortunately, LIIDS has since become permanently inoperable due to the failure of aging hardware and obsolete software. Despite multiple efforts to restore the system, 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.
Accordingly, the CNMI Department of Labor can no longer process requests for:
- Copies of umbrella permits;
- Verification of umbrella permit issuance;
- Work histories maintained in LIIDS; or
- Other records that relied exclusively on the former LIIDS database.
Individuals seeking immigration records, employment authorization history, or other federal immigration documentation should contact the appropriate federal agencies, including U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which has administered immigration functions in the CNMI since the federal transition.
The Department understands that these records may be important for certain individuals and regrets any inconvenience this may cause. 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.
For questions regarding this notice, please contact the CNMI Department of Labor at (670) 664-3190 or visit the Department’s website at labor.cnmi.gov.
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