The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reminded overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to follow immigration rules imposed by the country they are in and to avoid staying beyond what is allowed in their visas.
The foreign affairs department issued the advisory following the decision by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to remove the Philippines from its list of countries eligible for the H-2A and H-2B visas.
On January 22, DHS included Filipinos among those who would not be given H-2A and H-2B work visas for one year.
According to DHS, the imposition of the one-year ban for Filipinos, as well as Ethiopia and the Dominican Republic nationals, was due to the high number of expats overstaying using the H-2A and H-2B visas.
Another reason cited by DHS was human trafficking concerns saying that the US Embassy Manila issued the “greatest number of T-derivative visas, which are reserved for certain family members of principal T-1 non-immigrants (certain victims of a severe form of trafficking in persons).”
Due to the this, the DHS also banned Filipinos from being issued H-2A visas as well.
H-2A visas are issued to foreign agricultural workers in the US, while H-2B visas are issued to foreign non-agriculture workers.
The ban will run until January 18, 2020.
The foreign affairs department said that the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., along with the other Philippine Consulates General in the U.S., will continue to extend appropriate assistance to all its nationals pursuant to law.
