US H-2B temporary foreign worker visa cap increased by 65,000 – Investing Abroad News

The United States has doubled the maximum number of temporary H-2B visas for non-agricultural workers by 2025. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in consultation with the Department of Labor (DOL), announced that it planned to grant an additional 64,716 H-2B visas. Temporary non-agricultural worker visas available for fiscal year (FY) 2025.

The H-2B program allows U.S. employers who meet specific regulatory requirements to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs.

Currently, Congress has set the H-2B cap at 66,000 per fiscal year, including 33,000 for workers who begin work in the first half of the fiscal year (October 1 through March 31) and 33,000 for workers who start work during the second half of the financial year. half of the fiscal year (April 1 to September 30). The additional H-2B visas will be in addition to the 66,000 H-2B visas mandated by Congress and available each fiscal year.

A citizen of a foreign country who wishes to work in the United States must first obtain the appropriate visa. If the employment is fixed, the applicant can apply for a temporary work visa. There are 11 categories of temporary work visas. Most temporary worker visa applicants must have an approved petition. The potential employer must file the petition on behalf of the applicant. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is reviewing the petition.

The H-2B visa program allows eligible employers to hire noncitizens to perform temporary non-agricultural work or services in the United States. The employment must be temporary in nature, such as a one-time event, seasonal need, peak need or intermittent need.

Employers seeking H-2B workers must take a series of steps to test the U.S. labor market. They must obtain certification from the DOL that there are insufficient U.S. workers able, willing, qualified, and available to perform the temporary work for which they are seeking a potential foreign worker, and that employment of H-workers 2B will not have a negative effect on wages. and the working conditions of American workers in similar jobs.

The maximum length of stay in H-2B classification is three years. An individual who has held H-2B nonimmigrant status for a total of three years must leave and remain outside the United States for an uninterrupted period of three months before applying for readmission as an H-2B nonimmigrant .

These additional H-2B visas represent the maximum allowed under authority granted by Congress and are identical to the additional temporary visas provided in FY 2024.

DHS, in coordination with DOL, authorized additional caps for fiscal years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, consistent with the time-limited statutory authority granted for each of those fiscal years. by Congress.

U.S. businesses in industries such as hospitality and tourism, landscaping, seafood processing and more are turning to seasonal and other temporary workers in the H-2B program to help them meet demand for their goods and services.

Issuing additional visas will help meet the need for seasonal and temporary workers in areas where too few U.S. workers are available, willing and qualified to perform temporary work and meet the workforce needs of U.S. businesses .

Consistent with previous years, the Department is publicly announcing its intention to make these additional visas available at the start of FY 2025, just as it did in FY 2023 and 2024, to ensure that U.S. businesses with needs can plan ahead and find seasonal and other temporary workers. they need.

At the same time, DHS and DOL have implemented strong protections for U.S. and foreign workers, including ensuring that employers first seek and recruit U.S. workers for open positions, such as requires the H-2B program, and that hired foreign workers are not exploited by unscrupulous employers.

The H-2B supplemental rule would include an allocation of 20,000 visas to workers from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador or Costa Rica and a separate allocation of 44,716 additional visas that would be available to returning workers who received an H-2B Visa, or obtained H-2B status, in one of the last three fiscal years.

The regulation would allocate additional visas to returning workers between the first and second half of the fiscal year to account for the need for additional seasonal and other temporary workers during the year, part of the second half’s allocation semester being reserved to meet the demand for workers during the peak summer season.