Chinese nationals planning visa-exempt visits to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands will lose that travel route from 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on October 30, under a Homeland Security notice published October 27. Existing EVS-TAP travel authorizations are included in the suspension.
Who is affected
The Economic Vitality & Security Travel Authorization Program allows prescreened nationals of the People's Republic of China to visit the CNMI without a visa under specified conditions. The notice says visits generally have a maximum authorized stay of 14 days, and the program does not permit entry to Guam, the mainland or other U.S. locations.
The suspension covers prospective applicants and people holding currently active authorizations. From the stated time, Chinese nationals seeking temporary business or pleasure visits to the CNMI must obtain an appropriate nonimmigrant visa before travelling, unless another lawful exception applies.
Existing stays can continue
The notice expressly preserves the current authorized stays of people already admitted under EVS-TAP and legally present in the CNMI on the effective date. They will need a visa for future travel under the terms described in the notice.
The suspension does not revive the previous parole policy for Chinese nationals entering the CNMI. DHS says that policy ended February 20, 2025.
DHS's reason and the economic limit
DHS says the suspension allows it, in consultation with the State and Interior departments, to evaluate the program. It cites national-security, law-enforcement and immigration-enforcement risks. Those are the department's assessments, not independent findings about individual travellers.
The department acknowledges that CNMI businesses may have planned around this tourism and commercial travel, and that prospective visitors may face inconvenience or financial loss from suspended authorizations. It says those interests are outweighed by the risks it identifies and points to nonimmigrant visas as the remaining route for bona fide business and pleasure visitors. The notice does not quantify those prospective losses or provide an individual traveller's visa decision.