What is a visa ?

Updated Mar. 24, 2026Refreshed annually
The CW-1 visa is a nonimmigrant visa issued for work. Nonimmigrant visas are admitted for people who intend to stay in the US temporarily. CW-1 visas accounted for 0.02% of all issued visas in FY 2024.
In FY 2024,

2.52K

visas issued by the US were CW-1 visas

The CW-1 visa is specifically for temporary workers in the Northern Mariana Islands. CW-1 visas are issued to people who are ineligible for other work-based nonimmigrant statuses but whom an employer in the Northern Mariana Islands has petitioned to hire.

CW-1 visas are valid for up to one year and can be extended for a total of three years, after which the visa holder must leave the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States for 30 continuous days before reapplying.

The State Department maintains a cap on CW-1 visas, which was set at 8,000 for fiscal year 2026. The cap will decline annually until the CW-1 program ends on December 31, 2029.

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Methodology

USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.

The analysis was generated with the help of AI and reviewed by USAFacts for accuracy.

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USAFacts endeavors to share the most up-to-date information available. We sourced the data on this page directly from government agencies; however, the intervals at which agencies publish updated data vary.