DHS Suspends Visa-Free Entry for Chinese Visitors to Northern Mariana Islands
The Department of Homeland Security is suspending a program that lets prescreened Chinese nationals visit the Northern Mariana Islands without a U.S. visa, citing espionage, smuggling and birth tourism concerns.
The suspension takes effect at 2 p.m. EDT on Oct. 30, according to a notice published Tuesday in the Federal Register. It covers new applicants and travelers who have already been approved.
Chinese nationals already on the islands under the program may finish their authorized stays. The pause will last while DHS reviews the program with the State and Interior departments.
The program, formally the CNMI Economic Vitality & Security Travel Authorization Program, took effect in 2025. More than 3,000 Chinese nationals used it to enter the U.S. territory in fiscal year 2025.
Those visitors were vetted by Customs and Border Protection rather than a State Department consular officer. DHS said that volume of visa-exempt entries “presents unacceptable security and law enforcement risks.”
“DHS judges that PRC nationals are almost certainly exploiting EVS-TAP,” the notice states, using the acronyms for the People’s Republic of China and the program.
Military Sites a Key Concern
The department warned the program could be used for Chinese “espionage and intelligence collection directed against sensitive U.S. defense infrastructure in the region,” including Tinian Air Base, which is being restored for Indo-Pacific operations.
Nearby Guam hosts several U.S. military installations. DHS pointed to 2024 and 2025 cases in which Chinese nationals were sentenced for smuggling other Chinese nationals by boat from the Northern Mariana Islands to Guam.
In one case, most of the smuggled migrants “were later encountered in or near sensitive military installations,” the notice says. Those cases involved earlier travel policies, but DHS said they showed a weakness the newer program did not fix.
The department also cited birth tourism. “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,” it said.
The decision follows an April letter from Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida, John Cornyn of Texas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana urging Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to end the program, Fox News reported.
“America is not a nursery for the CCP to steal citizenship,” Lee wrote, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. “Thank you, President Trump!”
The office of Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who raised concerns with Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., in March, said Roy “is pleased to hear the Trump Admin closed this dangerous loophole.”
The islands’ delegate to Congress, Kimberlyn King-Hinds, stressed that the program has been “suspended, not terminated,” Isla Public Media reported. She said Mullin assured her DHS would work with the territory on the concerns.
“Our tourism industry is already facing tremendous challenges, and a prolonged disruption would have serious consequences for our businesses, workers and families,” King-Hinds said.
DHS acknowledged that some local businesses built plans around Chinese tourism. It said the security risks outweigh those interests and noted that bona fide Chinese visitors can still obtain a standard U.S. visa.
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