Visa Lawyer Blog

Addition of Sixteen New Countries Eligible for the H-2A and H-2B programs

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9319698471_083278482d_zThis week USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the addition of sixteen new countries that will be eligible to participate in the H-2A and H-2B visa programs next year. Nationals from the following countries: Andorra, Belgium, Brunei, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Singapore, Taiwan, and Timor-Leste will join sixty-eight other countries already participating in the H-2A and H-2B programs. Foreign nationals from these countries can apply for the H-2A and H-2B programs beginning January 18, 2016. If a country fails to meet the requirements for continued designation of these benefits, DHS reserves the right to remove any country from the list of eligibility, as it did recently with the country of Moldova and the H-2B program. Moldova may still continue to participate in the H-2A program since it has proven compliant with the necessary standards regulating the H-2A program. USCIS may consider other foreign nationals for the H-2A and H-2B programs even if their countries do not participate in these programs on a case by case basis.

For information about the H-2A program click here.

For information about the H-2B program click here.

Effective Jan. 18, 2016, nationals of the following countries are eligible to participate in the H­2A and H­2B Visa programs

Andorra Ethiopia Luxembourg San Marino
Argentina Fiji Macedonia Serbia
Australia Finland Madagascar Singapore
Austria France Malta Slovakia
Barbados Germany  Moldova H-2A only* Slovenia
Belgium Greece Mexico Solomon Islands
Belize Grenada Monaco South Africa
Brazil Guatemala Montenegro South Korea
Brunei Haiti Nauru Spain
Bulgaria Honduras The Netherlands Sweden
Canada Hungary Nicaragua Switzerland
Chile Iceland New Zealand Taiwan
Colombia Ireland Norway Thailand
Costa Rica Israel Panama Timor-Leste
Croatia Italy Papua New Guinea Tonga
Czech Republic Jamaica Peru Turkey
Denmark Japan The Philippines Tuvalu
Dominican Republic Kiribati Poland Ukraine
Ecuador Latvia Portugal United Kingdom
El Salvador Lichtenstein Romania Uruguay
Estonia Lithuania Samoa Vanatu

Please contact us for a free legal consultation if you would like to know if you are eligible for these programs.