infoDepartment of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Napolitano has just designated 11 new countries as eligible countries for H-2A and H-2B nonimmigrant visa programs over this past weekend. These new countries now join the previous 28 countries published on Dec. 18, 2008 to become a renewed larger pool of eligible countries where US employers are allowed to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary or seasonal jobs for which US workers are not available.

These 11 new members to the eligible countries are:

Croatia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ireland, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Serbia, Slovakia and, Uruguay.

We reported to you over one year ago about the previous list consisting of 28 countries eligible for H-2a and H-2b visa programs when it was first introduced under an article titled “New Development in H-2B Visa Category Just Published” back in Dec. 2008. If you have not read that article, here is the list of the other 28 countries of the existing H-2 visa program before these 11 new countries were added:

Argentina; Australia; Belize; Brazil; Bulgaria; Canada; Chile; Costa Rica; Dominican Republic; El Salvador; Guatemala; Honduras; Indonesia; Israel; Jamaica; Japan; Mexico; Moldova; New Zealand; Peru; Philippines; Poland; Romania; South Africa; South Korea; Turkey; Ukraine; United Kingdom.

Together, now, we have a total of 39 countries designated by DHS to be eligible for H-2 visa programs. However, this does NOT mean nationals from other countries are excluded from considerations for H-2A (for temporary or seasonal positions in agriculture or farming industry) or H-2B (for temporary or seasonal non-agricultural positions)!

In a public announcement, DHS confirmed that US immigration “may allow a worker from a country not on the participating country list to be eligibile for the H-2A or H-2B program if such participation is in the interest of the United States.” This means it is still possible, even if you are not a citizen or national of the 39 designated countries listed above, to apply for an H-2A or H-2B visa sponsored by a US employer, although such approvals will be on a case-by-case basis.

If you have any more questions about this article or H-2A and H-2B visa programs or if you have a general question about other areas of US immigration law, you can email your questions to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and our experienced immigration lawyers at Yu, South & Associates will respond to your inquiries personally and promptly, usually within 24 hours, if not sooner.

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