US declares H-2B visa cap reached for first half of FY 2024

The US has received enough petitions to reach the Congressionally mandated cap on H-2B visas for temporary non-agricultural workers for the first half of the fiscal year 2024.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said that 11 October was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date before 1 April 2024. 

The new cap-subject H-2B petitions received after 11 October 2023 that request an employment start date before 1 April 2024 will be rejected. 

The immigration agency said it will continue to accept H-2B petitions that are exempt from the Congressionally mandated cap, which includes current H-2B workers in the US who extend their stay, change employers, or change the terms and conditions of their employment.

It also includes fish roe processors, fish roe technicians, and/or supervisors of fish roe processing, and workers performing labour or services in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and/ or Guam from 28 November 2009 to 31 December 2029. 

The H-2B visas are issued for seasonal/ temporary jobs which allow employers to hire skilled or unskilled workers to fulfil the shortage of workers in the US.

Currently, the H-2B cap has been set at 66,000 per fiscal year, with 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the first half of the fiscal year (1 October-31 March) and 33,000 (plus any unused numbers from the first half of the fiscal year) for workers who begin employment in the second half of the fiscal year (1 April-30 September). 

Any unused numbers from the first half of the fiscal year are available to employers seeking to hire H-2B workers during the second half of the fiscal year. The unused H-2B numbers from one fiscal year do not carry over into the next fiscal year.