My move to Saipan was simultaneously one of the most disorienting and exhilarating experiences of my life (which might have something to do with the fact that I’d just spent more than 24 hours traveling and didn’t arrive here until 2am two days later). There are a lot of things to take care of when you first get here, and it can get a little overwhelming; fortunately I had a coworker guiding me along during my first day on island.

While everything is still relatively fresh in my mind, I figured it would be helpful to create an “arriving on island” guide for other people who are just moving here. Some is drawn from my own experiences, and some is material I stole from advice that other people gave me when I moved out here. Other mainlanders on Saipan: feel free to add your input in the comments on anything I may have forgotten. Without further ado, here is my (by no means exhaustive) list of tasks to complete within the first few weeks that you’re here. Note that they’re in order of when I’d recommend carrying them out (explanations in bullet points).

FIRST DAY ON ISLAND

• Set up a P.O. Box address. Most (if not all) places here lack “real” mailing addresses, so you’ll need to set up a box at a post office or somewhere similar. This is a high priority because you’ll need an address for just about anything else that you need to take care of (getting a drivers license, setting up a bank account, etc). Quick Prints on Middle Road is where I set mine up, and I’ve heard that it’s one of the more reliable postal centers on island. It’s also a full copy/print shop and they have a couple notaries on site. The P.O. Box itself costs around $120 per year. The good news is that USPS ships here pretty easily since the CNMI is a U.S. commonwealth, so packages sent via USPS are unlikely to get lost and will take about 2 weeks to arrive from the mainland. Flat rate boxes are also available here.
• Get a local phone number. Since you most likely don’t have Internet yet, you’re going to need a means of contacting people on island. You have two choices for cell phone carriers: IT&E and Docomo. I went with IT&E, which apparently tends to be more expensive and less reliable than Docomo. However, it’s also the only company that provides Internet (for now), so you can get a package deal for both cell and fiber optic services. If you’re not planning on just switching out the SIM card from your mainland phone, IT&E has plenty of options for you to choose from. Tip: getting a phone with GPS capabilities (which is what I did) ultimately doesn’t help you out that much since you can’t plug in physical addresses, so you can definitely get away with buying something a lot simpler.

FIRST WEEK ON ISLAND

• Get a local drivers license. Before you even make the trip to the BMV (Bureau of Motor Vehicles), there are a couple of other things you need to take care of. First, I’d highly recommend going somewhere like Quick Prints and getting a color copy of your current drivers license made; I’ve heard that the BMV will either take your current one from you or punch a hole in it to invalidate it if you bring it in. If you don’t want this to happen, when you get to the BMV you can just tell them that you lost your mainland drivers license and they’ll accept the color copy instead. Second, you’ll need to go to the cashier’s office on the first floor of the courthouse (in Susupe on Beach Road) and pay them $50 for a new CNMI license; you’ll then need to take your receipt with you to the BMV (which is conveniently located a couple buildings behind the courthouse). After that, you can just fill out your driver’s license paperwork like you would at any other DMV office on the mainland. One thing they’ll ask you is which village you live in; if you haven’t found a place to live yet, you can just tell them the village where you’re going to work. If you want to go back and change it later you’ll have to pay another fee, but from my understanding it doesn’t really matter what village is printed on your license since your P.O. Box address will be on there anyway.
• Set up a local bank account. Even though mainland debit cards are generally accepted on island (credit cards can be hit or miss though – my American Express card has been refused plenty of times), you’ll probably start to get tired of the ATM fees pretty quickly. Being able to visit a physical location for your banking needs is also a good reason for setting up a bank account with one of the banks on island, plus some places won’t accept mainland checks. Your choices here are Bank of Hawaii, First Hawaiian Bank, and Bank of Guam; I would avoid setting up an account at Bank of Saipan, as I’ve heard that they’re not even FDIC insured. I opened my checking account and health savings account with Bank of Guam and have been satisfied with it so far. As with anything on Saipan, just be prepared to wait a while for customer service if you visit any of their branches; the one in Garapan consistently stays very busy, and the parking lot is a nightmare. Make sure you also have enough money in your mainland bank account to last you a while, because your new BoG debit card will take a couple of weeks to arrive.

FIRST MONTH ON ISLAND

• Find a car. You can find plenty of other sources for car-buying advice in Saipan on the internet, so I won’t go into too much detail here. Just know that unless you’re coming over here with a surplus of extra cash to buy a brand new car, set your expectations low for the so-called “island car.” Find something that can get you around the island without breaking down too often and you’re good to go; this will usually cost you from around $2000-$5000. Also do your research before you go to any car mechanics on island (it’s generally easiest to just ask around for recommendations amongst your friends and coworkers), as scamming is a very common practice here.
• Get car insurance. Once you buy a car, it’s not a bad idea to get some insurance put on it (especially considering how some of the people here drive). Some (all?) insurance companies require you to get a car inspection before you buy insurance from them, so you’ll need to take care of that first. It only cost me $10 and about 5 minutes of my time at SJ Auto Repair, which is right next to the Mobil gas station on Middle Road (aka Chalan Pale Arnold). Once the inspection is done they’ll give you a receipt, which—you guessed it—you’ll need to take with you to the insurance company along with your car registration. Based on several positive reviews from friends, I ended up taking mine to Friendship Enterprises, Inc. on Beach Road in Chalan Kanoa. Basic car insurance from them for the entire year will run you about $170. For an extra $25 (plus the $50 cost of a new car registration) they’ll also take care of transferring the registration over to your name so you don’t have to bother going back to the cashier’s office, BMV, etc. Once the paperwork is done, they’ll give you a call and you can go pick up your updated registration and insurance card. Though I’ve heard there are plenty less expensive options for car insurance here, I personally think the extra $25 is worth avoiding the hassle of running between the same buildings that you did when you got your local drivers license.
• Find a place to live. Fellow mainlanders are very sympathetic to the experience of completely uprooting your life and coming out here with nothing more than a couple suitcases in hand. For that reason, they’re usually more than willing to accommodate you and give you a place to stay while you get your life on island sorted out. Between a few of my coworkers, I had at least 3 weeks’ worth of places to stay if I needed to while I was looking for a place to live. This is very helpful because you don’t want to jump into any living situation too quickly out here, and it pays to have a little extra time to scope out your options. Additionally, some large-scale foreign development projects are in the works on island right now and their investors have been buying up apartment complexes left and right for their workers, forcing the current tenants out. Housing is therefore in a state of shortage right now, so the more time you have to search for stable living arrangements the better.
• Set up utilities. Fortunately for me, I moved into a house with roommates so I didn’t have to set up my own power and water through CUC (the only utility company on island). From what I’ve heard, though, you’ll have to bring a copy of your notarized lease whenever you go to set it up. Be prepared: electricity is way more expensive here than it is on the mainland, and things like air conditioning can run up the bill extremely quickly. You’ll learn to be very conservative with your energy use (generally not a bad thing anyway).

That’s a lot of information to take in, but I hope it helps others like me navigate the daunting process of getting established on island. As always, feel free to add comments or ask questions at the bottom of the page. 🙂

Friends and family: I promise I’ll give an update on myself soon too!!