New countries eligible for H-2A and H-2B status

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 H-2A and H-2B Visa programs allow U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary agricultural and non-agricultural jobs, respectively. USCIS only approves H-2A and H-2B petitions for nationals of certain countries: those which 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      


See the CIS Press Release here.                                  

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