USCIS REACHES H-2B CAP FOR SECOND HALF OF FY 2024 AND ANNOUNCES FILING DATES FOR THE SECOND HALF OF FY 2024 SUPPLEMENTAL VISAS

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received enough petitions to meet the cap for the second half of fiscal year (FY) 2024 on March 8, 2024.

Now that USCIS has reached its cap for H-2B petitions, it 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.

Please note: USCIS will continue 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 December 31, 2029).

Additionally, USCIS announced the filing dates for supplemental H-2B visas for the remainder of FY 2024 made available under the FY 2024 H-2B supplemental visa temporary final rule.

The temporary final rule, jointly published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) created 64,716  additional visas that 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.

Supplemental H-2B visas U.S. employers seeking to petition for additional workers at certain periods of the fiscal year.  

The filing start dates vary depending on workers’ nations, the period of the fiscal year they will work, and whether or not an individual is a returning worker.

USCIS will stop accepting petitions under this temporary final rule received after Sept. 16, 2024, or after the applicable cap has been reached, whichever occurs first.

For more information, view the USCIS alert.

Source