AGROFEST ORGANISERS laid down the welcome carpet for thousands of patrons over the weekend, but the United States (US) government is ending more than 70 years of hospitality to Barbadian agricultural workers.
Barbados is on a list of several Caribbean countries whose nationals will have to fork out hundreds of dollars to pay for visas for themselves, accompanying spouses or children, if they want agricultural jobs in the US.
Under American law “non-immigrant aliens” are required to present an unexpired passport and a valid unexpired US visa in order to be permitted into the US.
However, as a key part of its efforts to remedy labour shortages during World War II, the US government offered visa exemptions to agricultural workers from “the British Caribbean”.
In doing so, they were “expeditiously providing a source of agricultural workers . . . to meet the needs of agricultural employers in the southeastern [US]”.
This meant that nationals from Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago previously only needed to “possess and present a valid unexpired passport to be admitted to the [US] as a temporary agricultural worker”.
The Americans have now determined that “given the passage of time, this basis for the exemption no longer justifies it”. They also said “this visa exemption creates a security loophole that could be exploited by persons who pose a danger to the [US]”.
Information seen by BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY said the “effective date” of the rule change was February 19.
“Since H-2A agricultural workers from the specified Caribbean countries are exempt from the visa requirement, they do not undergo the same visa issuance process as H-2A applicants from other countries,” said a document announcing the change.
“The absence of a visa requirement for these H-2A workers means that these individuals do not undergo a face-to-face consular interview, the adjudication of the applicants eligibility and qualification for the intended position, screening for potential fraudulent employment, and the associated fingerprint and security checks prior to seeking admission at a US port of entry. Further, in the absence of the visa requirement, there is significantly less advance opportunity for the US Government to determine whether other requirements for H-2A classification, such as the bar to collection of prohibited fees from prosective H-2 workers, have been satisfied.”
The US said screening agricultural workers from Barbados and elsewhere in the Caribbean “will ensure that these applicants for admission, like other H-2A agricultural workers, are sufficiently screened via [Department of] State]s visa issuance process prior to arrival in the [US].”
“In addition, the visa requirement will ensure that these persons possess evidence of the intended purpose of their stay in the [US] upon arrival at a [US] port of entry. This will lessen the possibility that persons who pose security risks to the [US] and other potential immigration vilators may improperly gain admission to the [US],” the US government said.