November 22nd, 2023 at 12:02 am
USCIS, DHS & DOL Announces H-2B Visas for Fiscal Year 2024 – 33,000 H-2B Visas
Additional H-2B visas now made available for the fiscal year 2024, according to USCIS. A temporary final was released by the Department of Homeland Security, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Department of Labor, granting an extra 6,476 H-2B temporary non-agricultural worker visas for the fiscal year FY 2024. The 66,000 H-2B visa statutory cap that applies to each fiscal year
To help them satisfy customer demand, American firms in industries including hospitality and tourism, landscaping, seafood processing, and more rely on seasonal and other temporary workers under the H-2B program. The additional Visa allotment will aid in meeting the labor shortage in places where there is a need for US workers, hence boosting the US economy.
The Biden administration’s commitment to expand authorized Pathways as a substitute for irregular migration, as stated in the Los Angeles proclamation on migration and protection, is furthered by the temporary final rule. With the availability of these additional visas at the beginning of FY 2024, the Departments will assist US businesses in meeting their workforce demands by enabling them to plan and secure the seasonal and temporary labor they require.
The H-2B program mandates that employers first look for and recruit American workers for open positions. As part of this effort, DHS and DOL are strengthening strong protections for both foreign and US workers. Additionally, hired foreign workers will be shielded from dishonest employers. Regulations to improve worker protections in the H-2A and H-2B categories were recommended by DOL and DHS.
H-2B Worker Protection
To improve protections for vulnerable H-2B and similarly placed US workers, federal agencies must implement new measures that have been announced by the White House LED H-2B worker protection task force. Twenty thousand visas for workers from Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras are part of the H-2B supplementary.
The Biden-Harris administration is working to create a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system, and part of that effort includes toughening penalties for individuals who enter the country illegally and increasing the number of legal pathways for migration. This country-specific allotment is one of the measures taken in that direction.
Returning employees who obtained H-2B visas or were otherwise awarded H-2B status during one of the previous three fiscal years will be eligible for the 20,000 country-specific allotment and 44,716 supplementary visas. To accommodate the requirement for additional seasonal and other temporary workers throughout the year, the rule distributes these supplemental visas for returning workers throughout the first and second halves of the fiscal year.
Furthermore, a part of the allocation for the second half sets aside to address the need for labor during the summer. On October 11, 2023, the number of H-2B visas approved under the Immigration and Nationality Act for the first half of FY 2024—a semi-annual ceiling of 33,000—was surpassed. These additional H-2B visas are the result of allocations.
H-2B Visa Allocations
Regardless of nationality, returning workers who were granted H-2B visas or had H-2B status in FY 2021, FY 2022, or FY 2023 qualify to apply for 20,716 visas immediately for the first half of FY 2024. Before March 31, 2024, these petitions must seek that the start dates of employment remain honored.
Additionally, returning employees who received H-2B visas or who held H-2B status in FY 2021, FY 2022, or FY 2023—regardless of nationality—are only eligible for 19,000 visas for the early second part of FY 2024. The employment start dates requested in this early second half of FY 2024 petitions must fall between April 1, 2024, and May 14, 2024.
Furthermore, for the latter half of FY 2024, only returning workers—regardless of nationality—granted H-2B visas or maintained H-2B status in FY 2021, FY 2022, or FY 2023 qualify for the 5,000 visas. The job start dates requested in this late second half of FY 2024 petitions must fall between May 15, 2024, and September 30, 2024.
Similarly, regardless of whether these nationals are returning employees or employers seeking an employment start date in the first half of FY 2024, 20,000 visas are set aside for nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, and Costa Rica for that fiscal year (2024). These citizens may submit these petitions as soon as this interim final regulation remains published.
H-2B program
Employers can temporarily employ non-citizens to provide labor or services in the United States that are not related to agriculture under the H-2B program. The job must be transient, such as a one-time event, a seasonal requirement, or an intermittent demand. Companies looking to hire H-2B workers need to follow certain procedures to gauge the US labor market.
The DOL must certify that they cannot find enough American workers who are available, willing, qualified, and able to perform the temporary work for which they are looking for a potential foreign worker and that hiring H-2B workers won’t hurt the pay and working conditions of similarly employed American workers.
Three years is the maximum stay allowed under the H-2B classification. After obtaining H-2B non-immigrant status for three years in total, an individual must leave the country and stay abroad for three continuous months before applying for readmission.
In compliance with the law, DHS and DOL pledge to safeguard all H-2B workers from exploitation and abuse and to make sure that companies do not refuse to hire or correctly recruit US individuals who are qualified, willing, and able to complete the temporary employment.
The Temporary Final Rule
Several safeguards now included in the implementation of this allocation to safeguard H-2B and US workers. Under this rule, petitions seeking additional allocations must submit to the USCIS Texas service center. Any petitions submitted at a site other than the Texas service center under the supplemental allocations in this rule will be denied, and the filing fees reimbursed.
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