WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in consultation with the Department of State, announced this week that nationals in six new countries are eligible to participate in the H-2A and H-2B visa programs in the coming year. The notice listing the eligible countries was published in the Federal Register on Wednesday.
“The Department of Homeland Security is committed to working with our interagency partners to ensure that companies in the United States can fill temporary or seasonal jobs for which U.S. workers are not available,” said Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “Adding these six new countries will enable their nationals to apply for temporary work in the United States.”
With this Notice, the Secretary of Homeland Security, with concurrence of the Secretary of State, has decided to:
- Add Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Cyprus, the Dominican Republic (currently only eligible for H-2A), Haiti, Mauritius, and Saint Lucia to the list of countries eligible to participate in the H-2A and H-2B programs; and
- Remove Moldova as an eligible country for the H-2A visa program because it no longer meets the regulatory standards for that program. However, Moldova’s eligibility for the H-2A program remains effective until Jan. 18, 2022.
Total Countries
Nationals from 85 countries will be eligible to participate in the H-2A program. Nationals from 86 countries will be eligible to participate in the H-2B program in the coming year.
See the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers and H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers webpages for more information.