Federal regulations state that USCIS may only approve petitions for H-2A
and H-2B nonimmigrant status from nationals of countries that have been
designated for such status, as published in the Federal Register. The
notice of countries must be renewed each year. This year’s notice has
just been published and identifies 59 countries whose nationals are
eligible to participate in the H-2A and H-2B nonimmigrant programs in
the coming year. The list is the same as the previous year, but includes
one new country: Grenada. The notice takes effect January 18, 2013.
Eligible countries include:
- Argentina
- Australia,
- Barbados,
- Belize,
- Brazil,
- Bulgaria,
- Canada,
- Chile,
- Costa Rica,
- Croatia,
- Dominican
Republic, - Ecuador,
- El Salvador,
- Estonia,
- Ethiopia,
- Fiji,
- Grenada,
- Guatemala,
- Haiti,
- Honduras,
- Hungary,
- Iceland, Ireland,
- Israel,
- Jamaica,
- Japan,
- Kiribati,
- Latvia,
- Lithuania,
- Macedonia,
- Mexico,
- Moldova,
- Montenegro,
- Nauru,
- The Netherlands,
- Nicaragua,
- New
Zealand, - Norway,
- Papua New Guinea,
- Peru,
- The Philippines,
- Poland,
- Romania,
- Samoa,
- Serbia,
- Slovakia,
- Slovenia,
- Solomon Islands,
- South Africa,
- South Korea,
- Spain,
- Switzerland,
- Tonga,
- Turkey,
- Tuvalu,
- Ukraine,
- United Kingdom,
- Uruguay,
- Vanuatu.
