DHS Suspends Visa-Free CNMI Travel Program for Chinese Nationals, Effective Oct. 30

ANALYSIS · October 27, 2026

Slug: dhs-suspends-cnmi-visa-free-travel-prc-nationals

Map of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, including Saipan and Tinian.

Map: CIA World Factbook (public domain). Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Package note: This Analysis covers a Department of Homeland Security general notice published in the Federal Register on October 27, 2026 (91 FR 67595, FR Doc. 2026-21880), issued through U.S. Customs and Border Protection and signed by Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin. The reasons below are DHS’s own stated findings. The notice does not publish the underlying intelligence or case data behind its risk assessments.

Primary sources

  • Federal Register notice (October 27, 2026): https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/27/2026-21880/suspension-of-the-commonwealth-of-the-northern-mariana-islands-cnmi-economic-vitality-and-security
  • Statute: INA § 212(l), 8 U.S.C. 1182(l): https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1182&num=0&edition=prelim
  • DOJ (D. Guam/NMI) release cited in the notice, March 20, 2024: https://www.justice.gov/usao-gu/pr/prc-citizen-sentenced-conspiring-transport-illegal-aliens-guam
  • DOJ (D. Guam/NMI) release cited in the notice, Feb. 25, 2025: https://www.justice.gov/usao-gu/pr/citizen-peoples-republic-china-sentenced-conspiracy-transport-illegal-aliens

The Secretary of Homeland Security is suspending the CNMI Economic Vitality & Security Travel Authorization Program (EVS-TAP), which lets prescreened nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) visit the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands without a visa. The suspension takes effect at 2 p.m. EDT on October 30, 2026. It applies to new applicants and to travelers who already hold an approved EVS-TAP travel authorization. PRC nationals already admitted under the program and lawfully in the CNMI on that date may stay for their current authorized period, but will need a visa for any future trip. DHS says it will evaluate the program, in consultation with the Secretaries of State and the Interior, while it is suspended.

Core Tension

DHS says the program’s volume of visa-exempt entries, more than 3,000 PRC nationals in fiscal year 2025, “presents unacceptable security and law enforcement risks,” and that “DHS judges that PRC nationals are almost certainly exploiting EVS-TAP.” The two smuggling cases the notice cites as examples were sentenced in March 2024 and February 2025, both before EVS-TAP took effect on Feb. 20, 2025; the notice describes them as incidents involving the former parole process “or other streamlined travel.” The notice does not identify a specific case under EVS-TAP itself. DHS acknowledges that CNMI businesses built plans around PRC tourism and that travelers may lose money, but concludes the “acute risks” outweigh those interests and notes that PRC visitors can still apply for a regular visa.

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