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United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced the expansion of the H-2A and H-2B temporary non-immigrant work visa to include Colombian citizens from 18 January 2016. The H-2 visa permits US companies to recruit foreign workers on a temporary basis, provided they complete temporary labor certification to show that there are no American workers to take up certain short-term job vacancies.
Unlike other temporary work visas, including the L-1A visa and L-1B visa and H-1B visa, the H-2A visa and H-2B visa does not require foreign workers to have an advanced education or a specialized occupation. Two types of H-2 visa exist – the H-2A visa that allows companies to recruit overseas nationals for seasonal agricultural work and the H-2B visa, to be used for temporary non-agricultural work. The H-2B and H-2A visa is valid for a maximum period of 12 months and can in some circumstances be extended for up to three years.
The H-2A temporary agricultural worker and H-2B temporary non-agricultural worker visa programmes that requires temporary labor certification to show that there is a shortage of US workers to do the work, is widely used by certain sectors of the US economy including in the following industries:
- Agriculture
- Fishing
- Tourism
- Hotels
- Seasonal holiday work
- Construction
While difficult to obtain the H-1A and H-2B visa allows work in a wide range of different occupations. These visas may be difficult to obtain if no other visas are available.
Get help with US work visas
If you would like to apply for a US work visa WorkPermit.com can help. WorkPermit.com is a specialist visa consultancy with over twenty-seven years of experience dealing with visa applications for the US, including the L-1A visa, L-1B visa, E-1 visa, E-2 visa, etc. Please feel free to contact us for further details.
