United States: H-2B Cap Reached for Second Half of FY 2024; USCIS Announces Filing Dates for Second Half of FY 2024 Supplemental Visas

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received enough petitions to meet the H-2B cap for the second half of fiscal year (FY) 2024 and has announced the filing dates for supplemental H-2B visas for the reminder of FY 2024 made available under the FY 2024 H-2B supplemental visa temporary final rule.

On January 12, USCIS announced that it received enough petitions to reach the cap for the additional 20,716 H-2B visas made available for returning workers for the first half of FY 2024 with employment start dates on or before March 31, 2024.

H-2B cap for second half of FY 2024

USCIS has now received enough petitions to meet the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the second half of FY 2024. March 7, 2024, was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date on or after April 1, 2024, and before October 1, 2024. USCIS will reject new cap-subject H-2B petitions received after March 7, 2024, that request an employment start date on or after April 1, 2024, and before October 1, 2024.

USCIS continues to accept H-2B petitions that are exempt from the congressionally mandated cap. This includes petitions for current H-2B workers in the United States who wish to extend their stay and, if applicable, change the terms of their employment or change their employers; fish roe processors, fish roe technicians and/or supervisors of fish roe processing; and workers performing labor or services in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam (until Dec. 31, 2029).

Filing dates for second half of FY 2024 supplemental visas

Below are the filing start dates for each of the remaining supplemental visa allocations under the temporary final rule published in November 2023:

• For employers seeking workers who are nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, and Costa Rica, regardless of whether such nationals are returning workers: On March 22, 2024, USCIS will begin accepting petitions for employers requesting an employment start date from April 1, 2024, to September 30, 2024. In November 2023, USCIS began accepting petitions from employers with employment start dates from October 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024. A cap count for this country-specific allocation is available on the Temporary Increase in H-2B Nonimmigrant Visas for FY 2024
• For employers seeking returning workers for the early second half of FY 2024 (April 1 to May 14): On March 22, 2024, USCIS will begin accepting petitions for the additional 19,000 visas made available to returning workers regardless of country of nationality.
• For employers seeking returning workers for the late second half of FY 2024 (May 15 to September 30): On April 22, 2024, USCIS will begin accepting petitions for the additional 5,000 visas made available to returning workers regardless of country of nationality.

USCIS will not accept petitions under this temporary final rule that are received after September 16, 2024, or after the applicable cap has been reached, whichever occurs first.

Background

On November 17, 2023, the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Labor (DOL) jointly published a temporary final rule, increasing the numerical limit (or cap) on H-2B nonimmigrant visas by up to 64,716 additional visas for all of FY 2024. These supplemental visas are available only to U.S. businesses that are suffering irreparable harm or will suffer impending irreparable harm without the ability to employ all the H-2B workers requested in their petition, as attested by the employer on the DOL Form ETA 9142-B-CAA-8. These supplemental H-2B visas are for U.S. employers seeking to petition for additional workers at certain periods of the fiscal year.

Additional information on the FY 2024 supplemental visas is available on the Temporary Increase in H-2B Nonimmigrant Visas for FY 2024 page.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen.