As of January 31, 2023 the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that additional 18,216 H-2B visas for returning workers, available for first half of FY 2023 with start dates on or before March 31, 2023, have been exhausted. Further, USCIS stated that it still accepts petitions for the additional 20,000 H-2Bs available to nationals of Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. To learn more about how to get an H-2B employee, visit our H-2B visa program, H-2B requirements.
The additional 18,216 H-2B visas for returning workers that were made available for first half of FY 2023 are part of a bigger effort to meet the demand for H-2B temporary worker visas in the US by making approximately 65,000 more H-2B visas available for FY 2023.
USCIS encourages US employers whose petitions for H-2B returning workers were not accepted to file for workers from Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. As of January 26, 2023, of the 20,000 visas available for nationals of Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, 4, 260 H-2B visas have been taken and 15,740 are still available.
In addition to petitions subject to the numerical limit, USCIS also accepts petitions that are exempt from the congressionally mandated numerical limit. This type of petitions are for:
- H-2B workers currently in the United States petitioning to extend their stay and change the terms of their employment or change their employers.
- Workers in the fish roe processing industry, including processors, technicians and supervisors.
- H-2B workers whose jobs are in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam.
If you are a U.S. employer seeking to hire foreign workers to fill a temporary or seasonal need for employees, contact us, your trusted H-2B visa attorneys or book a consultation with our immigration lawyers in Miami, Florida USA.
Malescu Law P.A. – Business & Immigration Lawyers
