USCIS Announces 68 Countries Eligible to Participate in the H-2A and H-2B Visa Programs

USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Department of State, has added the Czech Republic, Denmark, Madagascar, Portugal, and Sweden to the list of countries whose nationals are eligible to participate in the H-2A and H-2B Visa programs for the coming year. The notice listing the 68 eligible countries published on Dec. 16, 2014 in the Federal Register.

The H-2A and H-2B Visa programs allow U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary agricultural and nonagricultural jobs, respectively. USCIS only approves H-2A and H-2B petitions for nationals of countries the Secretary of Homeland Security has designated as eligible to participate in the programs. USCIS may approve H-2A and H-2B petitions for nationals of countries not on the list if it is determined to be in the interest of the United States.

Effective Jan. 18, 2015, nationals of the following 68 countries are eligible to participate in the H-2A and H-2B Visa programs:

 

Argentina

Fiji

Moldova

Slovenia

Australia

Grenada

Montenegro

Solomon Islands

Austria

Guatemala

Nauru

South Africa

Barbados

Haiti

The Netherlands

South Korea

Belize

Honduras

Nicaragua

Spain

Brazil

Hungary

New Zealand

Sweden

Bulgaria

Iceland

Norway

Switzerland

Canada

Ireland

Panama

Thailand

Chile

Israel

Papua New Guinea

Tonga

Costa Rica

Italy

Peru

Turkey

Croatia

Jamaica

The Philippines

Tuvalu

Czech Republic

Japan

Poland

Ukraine

Denmark

Kiribati

Portugal

United Kingdom

Dominican Republic

Latvia

Romania

Uruguay

Ecuador

Lithuania

Samoa

Vanuatu

El Salvador

Macedonia

Serbia

 

Estonia

Madagascar

Slovakia

 

Ethiopia

Mexico

 

This notice does not affect the status of beneficiaries who currently are in the United States in H-2A or H-2B status unless they apply to change or extend their status. Each country’s designation is valid for one year from Jan. 18, 2015.

Agency

Nonimmigrant Visas

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