Philippines issues warning to expat workers

The US removed the Philippines from the list of countries eligible for H-2A and H-2B work visas citing overstaying and human trafficking, Filipino Times reported. Following the decision by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Philippines has reminded overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to avoid overstaying their visas. 
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) urged OFWs to follow immigration rules imposed by the country they are in and to avoid staying beyond what is allowed on their visas, reported TFT. The foreign affairs department said that the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., along with the other Philippine Consulates General in the US, will continue to extend appropriate assistance to all its nationals pursuant to law.
The US announced the ban on January 22 and removed the Philippines, Ethiopia and the Dominic Republic from the list of countries eligible for H-2A and H-2B work visas for one year. According to DHS, the ban was imposed due to the high number of expats overstaying using the H-2A and H-2B visas and human trafficking concerns. 
The DHS said 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 banned Filipinos from being issued H-2A visas as well which are issued to foreign agricultural workers in the US. While H-2B visas are issued to foreign non-agriculture workers.