Immigration Trivia: What do Andorra and Vanuatu Have that Moldova Lacks

By David North on November 18, 2015

Here's a U.S. immigration trivia question based on today's Federal Register:

What do Andorra and Vanuatu have in common that Moldova lacks?

Geography mavens would, of course, answer that Andorra and Vanuatu both have half-French connections and Moldova does not, and they would be right.

Andorra is a tiny nation in the Pyrenees lodged between France and Spain and Vanuatu is, as we all know, the former New Hebrides (in the Pacific), which was once jointly ruled by the UK and France. That was done through a unique political arrangement called a "condominium". The musical "South Pacific" was based on events in the New Hebrides.

Andorra, according to Wikipedia, "is a parliamentary co-principality with the president of France and the bishop of Urgell (Catalonia, Spain), as co-princes", another unique arrangement and one that Mr. Hollande is probably not thinking about today. So both nations have half a French connection.
 

Moldova was once part of the Ottoman Empire, then Czarist Russia, and still later a part of Romania (but not to be confused with Moldavia, an adjacent province in today's Romania). It is now an independent nation. To add to the story, Moldova and Moldavia now occupy the space that used to be called Bessarabia, though the real Arabia is far to the south.

All the above are correct, but do not answer the question about the three little nations and the Federal Register.

The Department of Homeland Security announced two lists of nations in the Register, one of the nations whose residents are eligible for the H-2A program for nonimmigrant agricultural workers, and one for the H-2B program for non-ag, non-skilled workers.

All persons from the listed countries are eligible to work in these programs, and each of the lists starts with Andorra and ends with Vanuatu. There are 84 nations on the H-2A list and 83 on the H-2B list, with Moldova being the only one on the first list, but not the second. Moldova was dropped from the H-2B list for "not meeting the standards" for that program, but its citizens may use the H-2A program, because "Moldova met the standards" of that one. No details were provided in the Federal Register.

Further, most of the nations on both lists are either too distant (e.g., Vanuatu) or too well-off (e.g., Andorra) to be involved in these low-wage programs. Mexico, which comes right before Moldova on the first list, provides most of the workers in both programs. Why each of these programs annually issues these lists, mostly of nations that will never send us nonimmigrant workers, is a bit of a mystery to me, but by now it must be an automatic habit, easier to continue than to terminate.

The two lists are below, in the same comma-less format that the Department used in this instance.

H-2A

Andorra Argentina Australia Austria Barbados Belgium Belize Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Canada Chile Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Germany Greece Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Kiribati Latvia Lichtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Madagascar Malta Mexico Moldova Monaco Montenegro Nauru The Netherlands Nicaragua New Zealand Norway Panama Papua New Guinea Peru The Philippines Poland Portugal Romania Samoa San Marino Serbia Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Timor-Leste Tonga Turkey Tuvalu Ukraine United Kingdom Uruguay Vanuatu

H-2B

Andorra Argentina Australia Austria Barbados Belgium Belize Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Canada Chile Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Germany Greece Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Kiribati Latvia Lichtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Madagascar Malta Mexico Monaco Montenegro Nauru The Netherlands Nicaragua New Zealand Norway Panama Papua New Guinea Peru The Philippines Poland Portugal Romania Samoa San Marino Serbia Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Timor-Leste Tonga Turkey Tuvalu Ukraine United Kingdom Uruguay Vanuatu

Timor-Leste, sometimes called East Timor, is a relatively new name on these lists; it is the former Portuguese colony of Timor. It shares an island with a piece of Indonesia.