Last Updated on February 25, 2020, 2:14 AM AST by Anthony Morris
St. Kitts and Nevis could not make it into the list of five Caribbean countries that have been listed by the US administration as eligible for a temporary work visa in both agricultural and non-agricultural fields.
It is noteworthy that these visa programmes allow the US-based employers to hire and bring foreign nationals to fill in the vacancies temporarily in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors.
The Caribbean countries that are included in this list are Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Dominican Republic.
Total of 84 countries worldwide are included in the list issued by the US administration. The visa programmes are named H-2A and H-2B.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have together in deliberation with the Department of State (DOS), rolled out that five Caribbean countries will be eligible for participation in the programmes in 2020.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued that the Dominican Republic will only be eligible to take part in the H-2A programme and will not be eligible to take part in the H-2B programme.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), further added that the acting Department of Homeland Security alongside with the Office of the Secretary of the State has decided that the status of the countries made eligible in the list of 2019 will remain unchanged.
Further, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USICS) exemplified the factors that may lead to the removal of a country from the list of eligibility.
Some of the factors that could result in the removal of a country or the exclusion of a country from the list of eligible countries include, Fraud, Abuse, Overstay rates, Denial rates, human trafficking concerns, and other sorts of non-compliance with the terms and conditions of the H-2 visa programmes by nationals of the listed countries.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
