The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received enough applications to meet the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for visas for temporary nonagricultural workers for the first half of fiscal year 2024.
The deadline for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date before April 1, 2024 was Oct. 11, 2023. New cap-subject H-2B applications received after October 11, 2023 and requesting an employment start date before April 1, 2024, will be rejected by USCIS.
However, the USCIS is still accepting H-2B applications that are not subject to the congressionally imposed cap. This includes petitions for the following:
- Current H-2B workers in the United States who wish to extend their stay, change employers, or change the terms and conditions of their employment;
- Fish roe processors, fish roe technicians, and/or fish roe processing supervisors; and
- Workers performing labour or services in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam from November 28, 2009, to December 31, 2029.
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The H-2B program is used by US firms to hire foreign employees for temporary nonagricultural jobs.
The H-2B cap is currently set at 66,000 per fiscal year, with 33,000 for workers starting in the first half of the fiscal year (Oct. 1 – March 31) and 33,000 (plus any unused numbers from the first half of the fiscal year) for workers starting in the second half of the fiscal year (April 1 – Sept. 30).
What is the U.S. H-2B visa?
The H-2B program enables US businesses or US agents who meet certain regulatory conditions to recruit foreign nationals to the US to fill temporary nonagricultural occupations.
Congress established the H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program to allow U.S. firms to recruit noncitizens to the country to fill temporary non-agricultural occupations.
What is the H-2B Cap?
There is a legislative numerical restriction, or “cap,” on the total number of noncitizens who may get an H-2B visa or otherwise be granted H-2B status during a fiscal year under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as modified.
The H-2B cap is currently set at 66,000 every fiscal year, with 33,000 for employees starting in the first half of the fiscal year (Oct. 1 – March 31) and 33,000 for workers starting in the second half of the fiscal year (April 1 – Sept. 30).
Employers wanting to hire H-2B employees during the second half of the fiscal year will have access to any unused numbers from the first half of the fiscal year. Unused H-2B visa numbers from one fiscal year do not roll over to the next.
What is the H-2B visa cap for the second half of FY 2024?
33,000 is the expected cap for H-2B visas for the second half of FY 2024, which is equal to the cap set for the first half of FY 2024.
What countries are eligible for U.S. H-2B visa?
Andorra
Fiji
Malta
San Marino
Argentina
Finland
Mauritius
Serbia
Australia
France
Mexico
Singapore
Austria
Germany
Monaco
Slovakia
Barbados
Greece
Mongolia
Slovenia
Belgium
Grenada
Montenegro
Solomon Islands
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Guatemala
Mozambique
South Africa
Brazil
Haiti
Nauru
South Korea
Brunei
Honduras
The Netherlands
Spain
Bulgaria
Hungary
New Zealand
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Canada
Iceland
Nicaragua
Sweden
Chile
Ireland
North Macedonia
Switzerland
Colombia
Israel
Norway
Taiwan*
Costa Rica
Italy
Panama
Thailand
Croatia
Jamaica
Papua New Guinea
Timor-Leste
Czech Republic
Japan
Peru
Turkey
Denmark
Kiribati
Philippines
Tuvalu
Dominican Republic
Latvia
Poland
Ukraine
Ecuador
Liechtenstein
Portugal
United Kingdom
El Salvador
Lithuania
Republic of Cyprus
Uruguay
Estonia
Luxembourg
Romania
Vanuatu
The Kingdom of Eswatini
Madagascar
Saint Lucia
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