Title 48 — Territories and Insular PossessionsRelease 119-73
§1921c Interpretation of and United States policy regarding U.S.-FSM Compact and U.S.-RMI Compact
Title 48 › Chapter CHAPTER 18— - MICRONESIA, MARSHALL ISLANDS, AND PALAU › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - MICRONESIA AND MARSHALL ISLANDS › Part Part B— - Approval and Implementation of Compacts, As Amended › § 1921c
Summary
Congress requires the Secretary of State to include a full report each year to Congress on the status of internationally recognized human rights in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). Congress also says it supports the FSM and RMI constitutions and the compacts’ promise of respect for human rights. A naturalized FSM or RMI citizen may be denied the special nonimmigrant entry, work, and residence rights if U.S. officials reasonably infer the person became naturalized mainly to get those U.S. benefits. Congress urges up to $250,000 from each country’s grant funds (or more if agreed) be used to make passports more secure and machine-readable, with those funds obligated by September 30, 2004, and the United States may require those security features. FSM and RMI must be able, by October 1, 2004, to give timely criminal and security information the U.S. needs. Congress supports FSM and RMI rules that limit sale of permanent land to their own citizens and understands those governments will not allow other governments or parties to carry out certain compact-listed activities. Also, wording about the compact “effective date” must be read as the day before enactment of the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2003. To help places affected by migration, Congress authorizes $30,000,000 each fiscal year from 2004 through 2023 for grants to American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Hawaii. These grants must be used only for health, education, social, public safety services, or related infrastructure and are to be run by the Interior Department’s Office of Insular Affairs. The Interior Secretary must count qualified nonimmigrants at least every five years, with each count funded up to $300,000 (adjusted for inflation) from those grants. The law also authorizes reimbursements to health institutions for migration-related costs, allows the Defense Department to offer medical care on a space-available, reimbursable basis, and keeps National Health Service Corps services available to FSM and RMI residents. Governors of the four affected jurisdictions may send comments each year by February 1; the Interior Secretary must report to Congress by May 1. The President may, at a governor’s request, reduce or waive certain past unreimbursed impact debts owed by Guam or the CNMI, subject to rules and deadlines beginning December 17, 2003, and with the authority expiring February 28, 2005. Congress also says at least 30 percent of annual U.S. grant aid under section 211 for FSM and RMI should go to infrastructure. The President must send annual reports on FSM and RMI conditions and U.S. assistance, and periodic five-, ten-, and fifteen-year reviews will be done. Any U.S. regulations that significantly affect the compacts’ admission, stay, or work rights must wait 90 days after being sent to the relevant Congressional committees. As of fiscal year 2015, a specified inflation test using GDP deflator averages may change how certain compact payments are calculated, with fiscal year 2014 as the base year if adjusted. The Defense Department may also extend the ASVAB testing and career programs to selected secondary schools in FSM and RMI.
Full Legal Text
Title 48, §1921c
Territories and Insular Possessions — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)In approving the U.S.-FSM Compact and the U.S.-RMI Compact, Congress notes the conclusion in the Statement of Intent of the Report of The Future Political Status Commission of the Congress of Micronesia in July, 1969, that “our recommendation of a free associated state is indissolubly linked to our desire for such a democratic, representative, constitutional government” and notes that such desire and intention are reaffirmed and embodied in the Constitutions of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Congress also notes and specifically endorses the preamble to the U.S.-FSM Compact and the U.S.-RMI Compact, which affirms that the governments of the parties to the U.S.-FSM Compact and the U.S.-RMI Compact are founded upon respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all. The Secretary of State shall include in the annual reports on the status of internationally recognized human rights in foreign countries, which are submitted to Congress pursuant to section 2151n and 2304 of title 22, a full and complete report regarding the status of internationally recognized human rights in the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
(b)(1)The rights of a bona fide naturalized citizen of the Federated States of Micronesia or the Republic of the Marshall Islands to enter the United States, to lawfully engage therein in occupations, and to establish residence therein as a nonimmigrant, to the extent such rights are provided under section 141 of the U.S.-FSM Compact and the U.S.-RMI Compact, shall not be deemed to extend to any such naturalized citizen with respect to whom circumstances associated with the acquisition of the status of a naturalized citizen are such as to allow a reasonable inference, on the part of appropriate officials of the United States and subject to United States procedural requirements, that such naturalized status was acquired primarily in order to obtain such rights.
(2)It is the sense of Congress that up to $250,000 of the grant assistance provided to the Federated States of Micronesia pursuant to section 211(a)(4) of the U.S.-FSM Compact, and up to $250,000 of the grant assistance provided to the Republic of the Marshall Islands pursuant to section 211(a)(4) of the U.S.-RMI Compact (or a greater amount of the section 211(a)(4) grant, if mutually agreed between the Government of the United States and the government of the Federated States of Micronesia or the government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands), be used for the purpose of increasing the machine-readability and security of passports issued by such jurisdictions. It is further the sense of Congress that such funds be obligated by September 30, 2004 and in the amount and manner specified by the Secretary of State in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and, respectively, with the government of the Federated States of Micronesia and the government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The United States Government is authorized to require that passports used for the purpose of seeking admission under section 141 of the U.S.-FSM Compact and the U.S.-RMI Compact contain the security enhancements funded by such assistance.
(3)It is the sense of Congress that the governments of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands develop, prior to October 1, 2004, the capability to provide reliable and timely information as may reasonably be required by the Government of the United States in enforcing criminal and security-related grounds of inadmissibility and deportability under the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended [8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.], and shall provide such information to the Government of the United States.
(4)The words “the effective date of this Compact, as amended” in section 141(a)(3) and 141(a)(4) of the U.S.-FSM Compact and the U.S.-RMI Compact shall be construed to read, “on the day prior to the enactment by the United States Congress of the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2003.”.
(c)Congress endorses and encourages the maintenance of the policies of the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands to regulate, in accordance with their Constitutions and laws, the alienation of permanent interests in real property so as to restrict the acquisition of such interests to persons of Federated States of Micronesia citizenship and the Republic of the Marshall Islands citizenship, respectively.
(d)In approving the U.S.-FSM Compact and the U.S.-RMI Compact, Congress understands that the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands will not permit any other government or any nongovernmental party to conduct, in the Republic of the Marshall Islands or in the Federated States of Micronesia, any of the activities specified in subsection (a) of section 314 of the U.S.-FSM Compact and the U.S.-RMI Compact.
(e)(1)In reauthorizing the U.S.-FSM Compact and the U.S.-RMI Compact, it is not the intent of Congress to cause any adverse consequences for an affected jurisdiction.
(2)For the purposes of this part—
(A)the term “affected jurisdiction” means American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the State of Hawaii; and
(B)the term “qualified nonimmigrant” means a person, or their children under the age of 18, admitted or resident pursuant to section 141 of the U.S.-RMI or U.S.-FSM Compact, or section 141 of the Palau Compact who, as of a date referenced in the most recently published enumeration is a resident of an affected jurisdiction. As used in this subsection, the term “resident” shall be a person who has a “residence,” as that term is defined in section 101(a)(33) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended [8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(33)].
(3)There is hereby authorized and appropriated to the Secretary of the Interior, out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to remain available until expended, for each fiscal year from 2004 through 2023, $30,000,000 for grants to affected jurisdictions to aid in defraying costs incurred by affected jurisdictions as a result of increased demands placed on health, educational, social, or public safety services or infrastructure related to such services due to the residence in affected jurisdictions of qualified nonimmigrants from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau. The grants shall be—
(A)awarded and administered by the Department of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs, or any successor thereto, in accordance with regulations, policies and procedures applicable to grants so awarded and administered; and
(B)used only for health, educational, social, or public safety services, or infrastructure related to such services, specifically affected by qualified nonimmigrants.
(4)The Secretary of the Interior shall conduct periodic enumerations of qualified nonimmigrants in each affected jurisdiction. The enumerations—
(A)shall be conducted at such intervals as the Secretary of the Interior shall determine, but no less frequently than every five years, during the period of fiscal years 2003 through 2023;
(B)shall be supervised by the United States Bureau of the Census or such other organization as the Secretary of the Interior may select; and
(C)for the period of fiscal years 2004 through 2023, shall be funded by the Secretary of the Interior by deducting such sums as are necessary, but not to exceed $300,000 as adjusted for inflation pursuant to section 217 of the U.S.-FSM Compact with fiscal year 2003 as the base year, per enumeration, from funds appropriated pursuant to the authorization contained in paragraph (3) of this subsection.
(5)There are hereby authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of the Interior such sums as may be necessary to reimburse health care institutions in the affected jurisdictions for costs resulting from the migration of citizens of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau to the affected jurisdictions as a result of the implementation of the Compact of Free Association, approved by Public Law 99–239, or the approval of the U.S.-FSM Compact and the U.S.-RMI Compact by this resolution.
(6)(A)The Secretary of Defense shall make available, on a space available and reimbursable basis, the medical facilities of the Department of Defense for use by citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands who are properly referred to the facilities by government authorities responsible for provision of medical services in the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau and the affected jurisdictions.
(B)The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall continue to make the services of the National Health Service Corps available to the residents of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands to the same extent and for so long as such services are authorized to be provided to persons residing in any other areas within or outside the United States.
(C)There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this paragraph such sums as are necessary for each fiscal year.
(7)Not later than one year after December 17, 2003, and at one year intervals thereafter, the Governors of Guam, the State of Hawaii, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa may provide to the Secretary of the Interior by February 1 of each year their comments with respect to the impacts of the Compacts on their respective jurisdiction. The Secretary of the Interior, upon receipt of any such comments, shall report to the Congress not later than May 1 of each year and include the following:
(A)The Governor’s comments on the impacts of the Compacts as well as the Administration’s analysis of such impact.
(B)The Administration views on any recommendations for corrective action to eliminate those consequences as proposed by such Governors.
(C)With regard to immigration, statistics concerning the number of persons availing themselves of the rights described in section 141(a) of the Compact during the year covered by each report.
(D)With regard to trade, an analysis of the impact on the economy of American Samoa resulting from imports of canned tuna into the United States from the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
(8)(A)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the President, to address previously accrued and unreimbursed impact expenses, may, at the request of the Governor of Guam or the Governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, reduce, release, or waive all or part of any amounts owed by the Government of Guam or the Government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (or either government’s autonomous agencies or instrumentalities), respectively, to any department, agency, independent agency, office, or instrumentality of the United States.
(B)(i)Not later than 120 days after December 17, 2003, the Governor of Guam and the Governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands shall each submit to the Secretary of the Interior a report, prepared in consultation with an independent accounting firm, substantiating unreimbursed impact expenses claimed for the period from January 14, 1986, through September 30, 2003. Upon request of the Secretary of the Interior, the Governor of Guam and the Governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands shall submit to the Secretary of the Interior copies of all documents upon which the report submitted by that Governor under this clause was based.
(ii)The President shall notify Congress of his intent to exercise the authority granted in subparagraph (A).
(iii)Any reduction, release, or waiver under this Act shall not take effect until 60 days after the President notifies Congress of his intent to approve a request of the Governor of Guam or the Governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In exercising his authority under this section and in determining whether to give final approval to a request, the President shall take into consideration comments he may receive after Congressional review.
(iv)The authority granted in subparagraph (A) shall expire on February 28, 2005.
(9)There are hereby authorized to the Secretary of the Interior for each of fiscal years 2004 through 2023 such sums as may be necessary for grants to the governments of Guam, the State of Hawaii, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa, as a result of increased demands placed on educational, social, or public safety services or infrastructure related to such services due to the presence in Guam, Hawaii, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa of qualified nonimmigrants from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.
(f)Congress hereby reaffirms the United States position that the United States Government is not responsible for foreign loans or debt obtained by the Governments of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
(g)It is the sense of Congress that not less than 30 percent of the United States annual grant assistance provided under section 211 of the Compact of Free Association, as amended, between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia, and not less than 30 percent of the total amount of section 211 funds allocated to each of the States of the Federated States of Micronesia, shall be invested in infrastructure improvements and maintenance in accordance with section 211(a)(6). It is further the sense of Congress that not less than 30 percent of the United States annual grant assistance provided under section 211 of the Compact of Free Association, as amended, between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, shall be invested in infrastructure improvements and maintenance in accordance with section 211(d).
(h)(1)Not later than the end of the first full calendar year following enactment of this resolution, and not later than December 31 of each year thereafter, the President shall report to Congress regarding the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, including but not limited to—
(A)general social, political, and economic conditions, including estimates of economic growth, per capita income, and migration rates;
(B)the use and effectiveness of United States financial, program, and technical assistance;
(C)the status of economic policy reforms including but not limited to progress toward establishing self-sufficient tax rates;
(D)the status of the efforts to increase investment including: the rate of infrastructure investment of U.S. financial assistance under the U.S.-FSM Compact and the U.S.-RMI Compact; non-U.S. contributions to the trust funds, and the level of private investment; and
(E)recommendations on ways to increase the effectiveness of United States assistance and to meet overall economic performance objectives, including, if appropriate, recommendations to Congress to adjust the inflation rate or to adjust the contributions to the Trust Funds based on non-U.S. contributions.
(2)During the year of the fifth, tenth, and fifteenth anniversaries of December 17, 2003, the Government of the United States shall review the terms of the respective Compacts and consider the overall nature and development of the U.S.-FSM and U.S.-RMI relationships including the topics set forth in subparagraphs (A) through (E) of paragraph (1). In conducting the reviews, the Government of the United States shall consider the operating requirements of the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and their progress in meeting the development objectives set forth in their respective development plans. The President shall include in the annual reports to Congress for the years following the reviews the comments of the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands on the topics described in this paragraph, the President’s response to the comments, the findings resulting from the reviews, and any recommendations for actions to respond to such findings.
(i)section 141(f)(2) of the Compact of Free Association, as amended, between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia and of the Compact of Free Association, as amended, between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, shall be construed as though, after “may by regulations prescribe”, there were included the following: “, except that any such regulations that would have a significant effect on the admission, stay and employment privileges provided under this section shall not become effective until 90 days after the date of transmission of the regulations to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on Resources, the Committee on International Relations, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives”.
(j)As of Fiscal Year 2015, if the United States Gross Domestic Product Implicit Price Deflator average for Fiscal Years 2009 through 2013 is greater than United States Gross Domestic Product Implicit Price Deflator average for Fiscal Years 2004 through 2008 (as reported in the Survey of Current Business or subsequent publication and compiled by the Department of the Interior), then section 217 of the U.S.-FSM Compact, paragraph 5 of Article II of the U.S.-FSM Fiscal Procedures Agreement, section 218 of the U.S.-RMI Compact, and paragraph 5 of Article II of the U.S.-RMI Fiscal Procedures Agreement shall be construed as if “the full” appeared in place of “two-thirds of the” each place those words appear. If an inflation adjustment is made under this subsection, the base year for calculating the inflation adjustment shall be fiscal year 2014.
(k)In furtherance of the provisions of Title Three, Article IV, section 341 of the U.S.-FSM and the U.S.-RMI Compacts, the purpose of which is to establish the privilege to volunteer for service in the U.S. Armed Forces, it is the sense of Congress that, to facilitate eligibility of FSM and RMI secondary school students to qualify for such service, the Department of Defense may extend the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) Student Testing Program (STP) and the ASVAB Career Exploration Program to selected secondary Schools in the FSM and the RMI to the extent such programs are available to Department of Defense Dependent Schools located in foreign jurisdictions.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
The Immigration and Nationality Act, referred to in subsec. (b)(3), is act June 27, 1952, ch. 477, 66 Stat. 163, which is classified principally to chapter 12 (§ 1101 et seq.) of Title 8, Aliens and Nationality. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note set out under section 1101 of Title 8 and Tables. The enactment by the United States Congress of the Compact of Free Association
Amendments
Act of 2003, referred to in subsec. (b)(4), is the enactment of Pub. L. 108–188, which was approved Dec. 17, 2003. The Palau Compact, referred to in subsec. (e)(2)(B), probably means the Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Government of Palau, which is contained in section 201 of Pub. L. 99–658, set out as a note under section 1931 of this title. The Compact of Free Association, approved by Public Law 99–239, referred to in subsec. (e)(5), is the Compact of Free Association between the Governments of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia, which is contained in section 201 of Pub. L. 99–239, set out as a note under section 1901 of this title. This resolution, referred to in subsec. (e)(5), and this Act, referred to in subsec. (e)(8)(B)(iii), are references to Pub. L. 108–188, Dec. 17, 2003, 117 Stat. 2720, known as the Compact of Free Association
Amendments
Act of 2003, which enacted this part and provisions set out as notes under section 1901 and 1921 of this title and amended provisions set out as a note under section 3101 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
of 2003 Amendment note set out under section 1901 of this title and Tables. The Compact of Free Association, as amended, between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia, referred to in subsecs. (g) and (i), is contained in section 201(a) of Pub. L. 108–188, set out as a note under section 1921 of this title. The Compact of Free Association, between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, referred to in subsecs. (g) and (i), is contained in section 201(b) of Pub. L. 108–188, set out as a note under section 1921 of this title. The enactment of this resolution, referred to in subsec. (h)(1), is the enactment of Pub. L. 108–188, which was approved Dec. 17, 2003.
Amendments
2024—Subsec. (e)(4)(A). Pub. L. 118–42, § 209(l)(2)(A)(i), substituted “during the period of fiscal years 2003 through 2023” for “beginning in fiscal year 2003”. Subsec. (e)(4)(C). Pub. L. 118–42, § 209(l)(2)(A)(ii), substituted “for the period of fiscal years 2004 through 2023” for “after fiscal year 2003”. Subsec. (e)(5) to (10). Pub. L. 118–42, § 209(l)(2)(B), (C), redesignated pars. (6) to (10) as (5) to (9), respectively, and struck out former par. (5). Prior to amendment, text of par. (5) read as follows: “The Secretary of the Interior shall allocate to the government of each affected jurisdiction, on the basis of the results of the most recent enumeration, grants in an aggregate amount equal to the total amount of funds appropriated under paragraph (3) of this subsection, as reduced by any deductions authorized by subparagraph (C) of paragraph (4) of this subsection, multiplied by a ratio derived by dividing the number of qualified nonimmigrants in such affected jurisdiction by the total number of qualified nonimmigrants in all affected jurisdictions.” 2009—Subsec. (h)(3). Pub. L. 111–68 struck out par. (3). Text read as follows: “Not later than the date that is three years after December 17, 2003, and every 5 years thereafter, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a report on the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands including the topics set forth in paragraphs (1) (A) through (E) above, and on the effectiveness of administrative oversight by the United States.” 2008—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 110–229, § 806(a)(2)(A), inserted “the” before “U.S.-RMI Compact,”. Subsec. (e)(8). Pub. L. 110–229, § 806(a)(2)(B)(i), substituted “and include” for “to include” in introductory provisions. Subsec. (e)(9)(A). Pub. L. 110–229, § 806(a)(2)(B)(ii), inserted a comma after “impact expenses, may”. Subsec. (e)(10). Pub. L. 110–229, § 806(a)(2)(B)(iii), substituted “related to such services” for “related to service”. Subsec. (j). Pub. L. 110–229, § 806(a)(2)(C), inserted “the” before “Interior),”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Change of Name
Committee on Resources of House of Representatives changed to Committee on Natural Resources of House of Representatives and Committee on International Relations of House of Representatives changed to Committee on Foreign Affairs of House of Representatives by House Resolution No. 6, One Hundred Tenth Congress, Jan. 5, 2007. Assignment of Reporting Functions Memorandum of President of the United States, July 21, 2005, 70 F.R. 43249, provided: Memorandum for the Secretary of the Interior By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby assign to you the functions of the President under section 104(h) of the Compact of Free Association
Amendments
Act of 2003 (Public Law 108–188) [48 U.S.C. 1921c(h)]. You are authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register. George W. Bush.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
48 U.S.C. § 1921c
Title 48 — Territories and Insular Possessions
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73