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By David V. Crisostomo

HAGÅTÑA, Guam (Pacific Daily News, June 4) - Immigrants will pay more for the American dream beginning July 30.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently announced that proposed increases to immigration and naturalization fees will become official by the end of next month. The new fee schedule will increase 38 immigration application and petition filing fees by anywhere from 50 to 500 percent more than what is currently charged.

The increases will hit some immigrants' pockets hard.

If you want to become a naturalized citizen, be prepared to fork out an additional US$230 to cover your application for citizenship. The application fee will rise to US$595, up from US$330.

If you want the coveted green card, you'll have to pay an additional US$605. The new green card fee is US$930, up from US$325.

If you're an immigrant and want to petition your family members, save an additional US$165 to cover the family...

By Haidee V. Eugenio

SAIPAN, CNMI (Mariana Variety, June 4, 2007) - A garment subcontractor in Chalan Kanoa abandoned about 30 nonresident workers who have yet to be paid their back wages of US$762.50 to about US$24,000. Among them is a 30-year-old from Chiangsu, China who worked for less than three weeks before the employer ran away without paying him a single penny.

"I worked for 250 hours and she didn’t pay me anything before she ran away," said the worker, who used to iron pieces of garments for the company.

Yesterday, some of these workers told Variety that their employer, Luo Ye Mei, secretly fled Saipan after celebrating with them the Chinese New Year on February 18. She never returned to Saipan since then, they said.

The employer, according to the workers, did not inform them or the Department of Labor about her departure from Saipan on the morning of February 18.

"After celebrating the New Year, she told the workers that she would go home...

By Mar-Vic Cagurangan

SAIPAN, CNMI (Mariana Variety, June 4) - The COLA Defense Committee of Guam will join its counterparts in other affected jurisdictions in challenging the Bush administration’s proposal to replace the cost-of-living adjustment with the so-called "locality payment," the committee’s president, Manny Cruz, said yesterday.

"The proposal will cause a disaster because it will result in low retirement benefits for us," Cruz said.

Cruz said there are about 2,025 federal employees on Guam and about 200 in the [Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)] who are likely to be affected by the Bush administration’s proposal, which would also apply to so-called "non-foreign areas" including Alaska, Hawai‘i, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

COLA rates are calculated based on the higher cost of goods and services in each region, while locality payment is based on the difference in wages paid to federal and private-sector employees....

SUVA, Fiji (Islands Business Magazine, June) - A Fiji-owned and registered company is seeking to secure an exploration and mining lease to start a mine in a gold exploration tenement currently held by Emperor Gold Mines Ltd.

Viti Mining Limited (VML), launched last month by its owners-merchant banker John Sanday, administrator and manager Ratu Timoci Tavanavanua and surveyor/land development consultant Michael Whippy-also announced plans to be involved in the mining of precious and metalliferous metals in Fiji and the South Pacific islands.

"VML has already submitted three applications to the Mineral Resources Department (MRD). Of the three, two are for exploration leases and one is for a mining lease. We have an intention to develop a gold mining operation in one of the prospects we have applied for," said Sanday, who is also CEO and chairman of the company.

"Subject to approval processes, the directors of VML are confident of building a mining business and...