September 28, 2020
Are you looking for work in the United States? Keep the following recommendations in mind, and don’t let yourself be tricked!
H-2 visas are petition-based permits and are valid when an employer in the United States requests that the United States government approve and certify the visas before scheduling appointments with workers. Therefore, the real work offers are those that have approved certification on behalf of an employer or business. The certification, in a general sense, is a permit that the United States government grants to employers to be able to contract and bring foreign workers to the United States temporarily in order to do the job specified on the petition.
The certification of the visas includes employment details like the duration of the job, the number of guaranteed work hours per week, the salary, the benefits (including transportation, housing, and food or a place to cook), and any deduction in paycheck. That said, if the person that is recruiting you does not have this information, that can be a warning side of fraud!
Everyone who requests a visa must fill out the DS-160 form. This form can be filled out online from the official website of the United States Embassy and should be submitted before an interview at the U.S. Consulate in Mexico. If the worker needs to pay the fee for the visa, the fee is $190 US dollars. This fee should be deposited only into the accounts and banks authorized by the consulate, which are: Banamex 023-3047007 or Scotiabank agreement 4244, in name of CSC Computer Sciencie, using the page of instructions downloaded at the moment in which the appointment was made. So if they ask for a payment to a personal account or in self-service stores as a visa fee, that could be another warning sign!
Remember:
The visa fee covers the processing of the application, regardless of whether the visa is issued or not and is not refundable
The seven consulates that process H2 work visas are located in: Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Juárez, Hermosillo, Nogales, Matamoros and Tijuana. If a recruiter tells you that processing is in Mexico City or at another consulate that is not one of the seven listed, that could indicate a warning sign!
If you are looking for a work opportunity and the business that you want to work with does not have approved certification, it will not be possible to request a temporary work visa before the consulate. In order to have the opportunity to work, they should not ask you for a fee. Recruitment fees are illegal in Mexico and in the United States. If a recruiter or agency requests a fee in order to give you information about a work offer, that could be treated as another warning sign!
Continue learning about this and other topics of interest at Contratados.org and share this information with your friends and family. Together, let's help prevent fraud in our communities.
If you have any doubts about the truthfulness of a job offer, contact Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. (CDM) and we can help you resolve your concerns. Call us at our toll-free line from Mexico: 800 590 1773 and from the United States: 1-855-234-9699 from Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm (CT).