United States: H-2B Cap Is Reached for Second Half of FY 2022
March 1, 2022
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At a glance
- On February 25, 2022, USCIS received enough H-2B petitions to exhaust the cap for the second half of FY 2022.
- USCIS will reject H-2B petitions received after February 25, 2022 that request a start date on or after April 1, 2022, and before October 1, 2021, unless the petition is exempt from the H-2B cap.
- USCIS continues to accept H-2B petitions for the first half of FY 2022 through March 31, 2022 for H-2B positions with start dates on or before March 31, 2022, under a temporary rule authorizing an additional 20,000 H-2B visas for the first half of FY 2022.
A closer look
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that the H-2B cap for the second half of FY 2022 is reached. February 25, 2022 was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date on or after April 1, 2022, and before October 1, 2022. USCIS will reject any new H-2B petitions received after February 25, 2022 requesting an employment start date on or after April 1, 2022, and before October 1, 2022.
USCIS will continue to accept H-2B petitions that are exempt from the cap. Exempt petitions include those in which current H-2B workers are seeking to extend their stay, change employers, or change the terms of their H-2B employment.
For the first half of FY 2022, USCIS continues to accept H-2B petitions through March 31, 2022 for H-2B positions with start dates on or before March 31, 2022, under a temporary rule authorizing an additional 20,000 H-2B visas for the first half of FY 2022.
Background
The H-2B cap for each fiscal year is 66,000, with 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the first half of the fiscal year (October 1 – March 31) and 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the second half of the fiscal year (April 1 – September 30). USCIS accepts filings in excess of this amount to account for petition withdrawals, revocations and denials, as well as cases in which employers ultimately employ fewer H-2B workers than requested in their petitions.
In December 2021, the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Labor (DOL) authorized an additional 20,000 H-2B visa numbers for temporary non-agricultural employment in the first half of FY 2022. Employers are able to petition for these new visas through March 31, 2022 for H-2B positions with start dates on or before March 31, 2022. Of the new supplemental visas, 13,500 are available to returning workers who were issued H-2B visas or held H-2B status in fiscal years 2019, 2020 or 2021, while the remaining 6,500 are reserved for nationals of Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, regardless of whether they were previously granted an H-2B visa or status.
What it means
Employers whose H-2B petitions for employment in the second half of FY 2023 were received by USCIS on February 25 will soon learn whether their petitions were selected for adjudication. Employers seeking to file new H-2B petitions for the first half of FY 2022 with a start date on or before March 31, 2022 are able to do so through March 31, 2022.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen.
