268 Salvadorans Obtain Job Contracts In The United States
American company Trident Seafoods visited El Salvador February 21-23, conducting interviews and offering temporary jobs to Salvadoran workers in their fish processing plants in Alaska. This is part of the H2 visa program, an initiative developed by the Government of the United States to help Salvadoran workers obtain legal and temporary jobs in the U.S., while helping American companies find employees.
During the three-day visit to El Salvador, the company interviewed a total of 281 candidates, 268 of whom have been hired by the company. It is expected that these workers will obtain an H2B visa soon and will be able to travel to Alaska, where they will work processing fish between June and October 2022.
“The program captured my attention because of the opportunities it brings. I work in fishing. I think it is a good opportunity because it is something that has never been given before,” said Julio Barrera, an applicant for these specialized positions.
Similarly, applicant Pablo Castillo also expressed his satisfaction for these opportunities presented to Salvadoran workers. “This is good news to find a better way of living, working for our families and being able to have an improvement in our lives,” he said.
Scott Mitton, Trident Seafoods representative, highlighted the potential of Salvadoran workers. “The reason we are in El Salvador is because we have a good record of Salvadorans working in seafood companies in the United States. They are very good workers, they work very hard and have good ethics,” he acknowledged. This is the second recruiting trip made by the American company to El Salvador. In the first one, in November 2022, 180 interviews were conducted and a total of 172 workers were hired.
Trident employs around 1,850 H2B workers every year on their 12 different processing plants in the United States. Trident operates six large vessels for fish processing on the sea.
