by WorldTribune Staff, October 29, 2026 — Real World News

The United States has suspended visa-free travel for Chinese nationals visiting the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), an unincorporated territory and self-governing commonwealth of the U.S. that has significant geostrategic value to both China and the USA.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it suspended the Economic Vitality & Security Travel Authorization Program (EVS-TAP), citing national security risks, potential espionage directed at U.S. defense infrastructure (such as nearby military installations in Guam and the Tinian air base), illegal labor, human smuggling, and “birth tourism.”

Related: Communist China takes aim at tiny Pacific Islands and their special relationship with the United States, June 27, 2023

The sensitivity of the action was cited in the notice:

EVS-TAP may be exploited to facilitate PRC espionage and intelligence collection directed against sensitive U.S. defense infrastructure in the region… In the CNMI, the Department of War (DOW) is restoring the Tinian Air Base to support U.S. military strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific. Additionally, neighboring Guam is also home to several DOW military installations critical to homeland defense and U.S. military interests. Despite the strict regulatory prohibition against PRC nationals traveling beyond the CNMI, PRC nationals have the ability to illegally travel from the CNMI to Guam aboard smuggling vessels.

The suspension applies to new applicants and active travel authorizations. Chinese nationals already present in the CNMI under the program may stay through their authorized period, but future visits will require a standard U.S. non-immigrant visa.

The EVS-TAP allowed pre-screened citizens from mainland China to visit the U.S. territory visa-free for up to 14 days. .

“This was a long time coming,” Cleo Paskal, Senior Fellow for Indo-Pacific Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council, wrote in a LinkedIn analysis.

The notice explaining the suspension “gives an idea of the situation in the Marianas, a U.S. territory of around 50,000, as well as why this is so important,” Paskal wrote.

Excerpts from the notice:

[In] February 2025, the United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands in Saipan and Guam announced sentencing of a PRC national who had engaged in conspiracy to transport illegal aliens, by smuggling seven other PRC nationals from CNMI to Guam. Most of these PRC nationals were later encountered in or near sensitive military installations.

In addition to espionage, EVS-TAP may create immigration enforcement challenges by aliens who seek to exploit EVS-TAP to engage in birth tourism and secure U.S. citizenship for children with no lasting ties to the United States. While birth tourism has long been an issue in the CNMI, the availability of visa-exempt travel and reduced vetting under EVS-TAP may lower barriers to this practice.

Furthermore, the CNMI’s history of PRC-linked criminal activity demonstrates the risks that must be considered when assessing streamlined, visa-exempt travel under EVS-TAP. The CNMI has previously experienced criminal activity, including significant money laundering and labor abuses from enterprises operated by PRC-linked entities, most notably the development of a casino gaming operation in Saipan. While a permanent casino was under construction, a PRC company opened a temporary casino that was linked to money laundering and labor abuses. This temporary facility, located in a former shopping mall, reported more than $2 billion monthly in VIP bets, rivaling Macau.

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