{"id":574,"date":"2012-08-22T19:51:54","date_gmt":"2012-08-23T01:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.messersmithlaw.com\/?p=574"},"modified":"2026-08-15T23:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T05:19:14","slug":"h2b-visa-applicant-not-on-country-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.messersmithlaw.com\/?p=574","title":{"rendered":"H2B Visa Applicant Not on Country List"},"content":{"rendered":"

I started a new restaurant and, believe it or not, have had serious trouble finding workers.\u00a0The winter and summer are the major tourist seasons here in Florida and I have been short staffed since November.\u00a0I know a group of guys from Spain that I would love to bring in to work over the summer and possibly longer.\u00a0I know the H2B visa is for seasonal work like mine but I notice that Spain isn\u2019t on the H2B country list.\u00a0I saw from your web site that there is a way around this.\u00a0Can you help me out?\u00a0This could make or break me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You are certainly correct that the H2B visa is the appropriate visa for seasonal workers.\u00a0You are also correct that Spain is not one of the approved countries for H2B visas.\u00a0There is an exception and that is if you can show that visa issuance is in the US interest.\u00a0USCIS looks to four factors to determine the US interest requirement.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Evidence that the beneficiary has been admitted to the United States previously in H2A or H2B status and complied with the terms of his\/her status;<\/li>\n
  2. Evidence that a worker with the required skills is not available from a country on the list of eligible countries;<\/li>\n
  3. Potential for abuse, fraud, or other harm to the integrity of the H2A or H2B program through the potential admission of these worker(s) that a petitioner plans to hire; and<\/li>\n
  4. Other factors that would serve the US interest, if any.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It is not necessary to prove all four factors.\u00a0\u201cOther factors\u201d stated in factor 4\u00a0are evidence that the H2B sponsor or the US industry or government agency would suffer harm without the services of the H2B visa applicant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I started a new restaurant and, believe it or not, have had serious trouble finding workers.\u00a0The winter and summer are the major tourist seasons here in Florida and I have been short staffed since November.\u00a0I know a group of guys from Spain that I would love to bring in to work over the summer and … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,20],"tags":[166,172],"class_list":["post-574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-2a-visa","category-h-2b-visa","tag-h-2a-visa","tag-h-2b-visa"],"yoast_head":"\nH2B Visa Applicant Not on Country List - US Immigration Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.messersmithlaw.com\/?p=574\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"H2B Visa Applicant Not on Country List - US Immigration Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I started a new restaurant and, believe it or not, have had serious trouble finding workers.\u00a0The winter and summer are the major tourist seasons here in Florida and I have been short staffed since November.\u00a0I know a group of guys from Spain that I would love to bring in to work over the summer and ... 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