US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will start accepting applications for H-2B temporary non-agricultural workers for the second half of the fiscal year (FY) 2023 from 13 April 2023. According to the H-2B supplemental cap temporary final rule, requesting employment begins from 15 May 2023 to 30 September 2023.
Nearly 10,000 visas will become available for workers returning to the US who previously held H-2B visas in fiscal years 2020, 2021, and 2022, regardless of their nationality or country of origin. Moreover, it should be noted these visas will only be available for US businesses, either going through difficult times or the ones that could face irreparable damage if they are unable to recruit all H-2B workers requested in their petition, as mentioned by the employer on the new attestation form.
Allocation Of H-2B Visas
The temporary final rule was issued by the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Labor to boost the numerical cap on H-2B non-immigrant visas by a maximum of 64,716 extra visas for the fiscal year 2023. Don’t forget 44,716 places out of the total 64,716 visas are specifically meant for returning workers who had H-2B visas or H-2B visa status in the last three fiscal years.
In case you are wondering, the rest of the 20,000 visas are for individuals belonging to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Haiti who are not included in the returning worker category.
Statistics on 10 April 2023 indicate that USCIS has received petitions from 11,537 workers from nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras. USCIS continues to accept H-2B petitions under the temporary final rule.
Furthermore, all petitions requesting supplemental allocations under the temporary final rule must be submitted at the California Service Center, as instructed by USCIS. Otherwise, petitions will be rejected, and the filing fees will be refunded.
Click here to learn more about the FY 2023 supplemental visas.
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