The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received enough petitions in order to meet the H-2B temporary nonagricultural visa cap for the second half of fiscal year 2024.
Through a statement, the USCIS emphasized that March 7 was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions, which require an employment start date on or after April 1, 2024, and before October 1, 2024, VisaGuide.World reports.
“We 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.” USICS
However, the USCIS confirmed that petitions exempted from the H-2B congressionally mandated cap will continue to be accepted, including the following ones:
Current workers in the US under the H-2B program who want to stay longer and change the terms of their employment or change their employers.
People involved in processing fish eggs, overseeing fish egg processing, or working as fish egg technicians
Workers in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam until December 31, 2029.
Second-Half FY 2024 Supplementary Visa Application Period
In addition, the USCIS has also announced the filing dates for supplemental H-2B visas for the remainder of the fiscal year 2024, made available under the FY 2024 H-2B supplemental visa temporary final rule.
In November 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the USCIS and the Department of Labor (DOL), published a final rule, providing an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for fiscal year 2024, in addition to the statutory cap of 66,000 that are available each year.
USICIS emphasized that these supplemental visas are available only to US businesses that are experiencing irreparable harm or will suffer impending irreparable harm without the ability to employ all the H-2B worker requested in their position.
According to the USCIS, the filing dates for each of the remaining supplemental visa allocations under the temporary final rule are as follows:
- Employers seeking workers from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, and Costa Rica, regardless of whether they’re returning workers, are eligible to start applying for employment starting between April 1, 2024, and September 30, 2024, from March 22, 2024. At the same time, the USCIS began accepting petitions from employers with employment start dates from October 1, 2023, until March 31, 2024, in November 2023.
- For employers needing returning workers from April 1 to May 14, 2024, applications for an additional 19,000 visas start on March 22 this year.
- For those needing returning workers from May 15 to September 30 this year, applications for an additional 5,000 visas start on April 22, 2024.
In January of this year, USCIS also announced new changes in required fee and form editions for H-2B petitions that are set to become effective on April 1, 2024.