US imposes 1-year ban on new Filipino workers

Filipino workers seeking jobs in the United States under the federal H-2A and H-2B programmes will no longer be allowed to do so after the United States Department of Homeland Security (USDHS) the imposed a one-year ban.

On January 18, the department issued a notice banning the entry of additional Filipino workers under the two visas due to “overstaying” and “human trafficking” concerns.

The ban, which took effect from Jan 19, 2019, will last until Jan 18, 2020.

In a statement, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said workers from the Philippines, Dominican Republic and Ethiopia were no longer eligible to apply for H-2A and H-2B visas for foreign workers.

H-2A visas are temporary visas for foreign agricultural workers, while H-2B visas are issued to foreign workers providing non-agricultural services in the US.

“The Philippines has a high H-2B overstay rate. In the fiscal year 2017, DHS estimated that nearly 40% of H-2B visa holders from the Philippines overstayed their period of authorized stay,” the DHS said.

The DHS also said there had been a high volume of human trafficking victims from the Philippines who were originally issued H-2B visas. The continued issuance of the visas to Filipinos was considered a way to perpetuate human trafficking from the Philippines.

The notice on the ban went into effect on January 19 and will last until January 18, 2020. Foreigners who hold valid H-2A or H-2B non-immigrant status will not be affected.

“Persons currently holding such status, however, will be affected by this notice should they seek an extension of stay in H-2 classification, or a change of status from one H-2 status to another,” the DHS said.