After World War II, the United States became Administrator of the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI). This part of the Pacific encompassed places of historic significance to the U.S. -- Saipan, Kwajalein, Truk (now Chuuk), Pelelieu, Tinian, Guam (never part of the TTPI, Guam was US territory since 1898).

U.S. administration of this part of the Pacific eventually underwent orderly political evolution that resulted in nationhood for the Eastern Caroline Islands (now the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or RMI), the Western Carolines (the Federated States of Micronesia or FSM), and the Palau island chain now called the Republic of Belau.

As part of a Compact between the U.S. and the FSM and the RMI, and a separate Compact with the Republic of Balau, most citizens of these countries enjoy broad, but not unlimited, access to the United States as non-immigrants to live, work, or study without a visa. To gain admission to the United States, citizens of the FSM and the RMI only need a valid FSM or RMI passport -- citizens of Belau only need an appropriate travel document.

At a U.S. port-of-entry, an I-94 Form (the Arrival/Departure Card) is issued with a notation reflecting that the person has been admitted for “duration of status” or “D/S” and is from an FAS country. With only limited exceptions, citizens of the FAS admitted under the Compacts have had, and continue to have, authorization to work in the “open market” for any employer in the United States.

Changes to the Compacts with the FSM and the RMI effectively override U.S. laws and regulations (notably 8 CFR 274a.12(a)), as it applies to citizens of those the two nations. Since the Compact with Balau was not amended, Belau citizens who are admitted under the Compact are not affected.

8 CFR 274a.12(a)(8) provides that “an alien admitted to the Untied States as a citizen of the Federated States of Micronesia or of the Marshall Islands pursuant to agreements between the United States and the former trust territories,” must obtain an employment authorization document issued by the Service.” This rule also covers citizens of the Republic of Belau, although it does not specifically refer to them.

Under amendments to the Compact with the RMI and FSM, the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) requirement was eliminated for aliens from the RMI and FSM. Because the U.S.--Palau Compact has not been amended, citizens of Belau continue to need a valid EAD.

Some of this is news to many people and some of the federal government's “housekeeping” chores in the wake of 9/11 have not been finished. Examples: relevant web-sites are not up-to-date; and the Department of Homeland Security still has plans to amend 8 CFR 274a.12(a)(8) to reflect the changes in requirements for FSM and RMI citizens and to make specific reference to citizens of the Republic of Belau. When the government gets “caught up”, it won’t be in the papers or on Fox News -- your best protection: common sense, documentation of everything and “good faith” effort to comply with murky, arcane rules.

On December 7, 2003, President Bush signed legislation approving amended Compacts of Free Association (CFA) with the FSM and RMI. These Compacts went into effect on May 1, 2004 for the RMI, and June 30, 2004 for the FSM. The agreements extended substantial levels of U.S. financial aid to the two Pacific nations for 20 years.

The amended Compact revised the immigration provisions of the previous Compact in various ways (example: RMI and FSM citizens will no longer be exempt from passport requirements for travel to the United States), while preserving the generous nature of the non-immigrant admission without visa and citizens of the RMI and FSM to obtain an EAD as evidence of their eligibility to work in the United States, the agreement provides that a person admitted to the United States from the FSM or RMI under the Compact of Free Association (CFA)...

...“shall be considered to have the permission of the Government of the United States to accept employment in the United States. An un-expired…passport with un-expired documentation issued by the Government of the United States evidencing admission under the compact (or the compact as amended) shall be considered to be documentation establishing identity and employment authorization under section 274A(b)(1)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, 8 U.S.C. 1324a(b)(1)(B).”

In other words, under the U.S.--FSM/RMI Compacts, passports with U.S. admission documents are authorized to be “List A” documents that newly-hired employees may show as evidence of identity and employment eligibility when completing the Form I-9.

Citizens of the FSM and the RMI no longer need an employment authorization document (EAD) to work in the United States. An un-expired passport with un-expired documentation showing admission under the CFA is valid proof of work authorization for citizens of the FSM and the RMI. Citizens of the FSM will no longer need an employment authorization document to work in the United States. For the FAS, only citizens of Palau will continue to need an EAD to work in the United States. (The change gave FSM citizens the same documentation options that citizens of the RMI already had.)

Effective May 1, 2004 (for the RMI) and June 30, 2004 (for the FSM), employers should accept un-expired RMI and FSM passports along with an un-expired admission document (such as a Form I-94) issued at the port of entry by the U.S. government as evidence of both identity and employment eligibility for Form I-9 purposes.

These documents should be listed under Section 2 as “List A” documents. Expiration dates should be noted, and re-verification done when either document expires. (An I-94 Form for Compact entrants may indicate: “D/S” (duration of status) or it may not even show a specific expiration date. Annotations on the Form I094 indicating “CFA/MIS” shows admission of an RMI citizen under the Compact (other annotations showing Compact admission may be also be encountered). A passport with an I-94 showing a specific non-immigrant status under U.S. immigration rules (although the person may be a B1 or B2 visitor) is not an acceptable List A document. While most RMI citizens in the United States are Compact entrants, not all are.

As in all employment verifications, you should not ask employees for specific documentation, and you should accept documentation that appears to be genuine and pertaining to the applicant. (Just do your best -- and remember, it takes years of experience to become an expert on “questioned documents”…they earn huge fees when they appear in a courtroom.)

An EAD (employment authorization document) is no longer required for citizens of the RMI or the FSM admitted under the Compact to be employed in the U.S. RMI and RSM citizens with a valid EAD may continue to use it as evidence of work authorization. They may apply for an EAD in the future, if they wish. Documentation options for Belau citizens have not changed and they are still required to have an EAD as evidence of their eligibility to work in the United States.

Reviewed June, 2008