USCIS: Cap of H-2B Visas for Returning Workers Reached
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has declared that the threshold for the additional 18,216 H-2B visas has been reached after receiving sufficient petitions.
Following the recently updated H-2B supplemental cap temporary final rule, the USCIS acknowledged through a statement that it had received enough petitions for the returning workers for the first half of the fiscal year 2023 on or before March 31 this year.
The institution emphasized that it still accepts petitions for the additional 20,000 H-2B nonimmigrant visas reserved for El Salvador, Haiti, Guatemala, and Honduras citizens.
According to a statement from USCIS;
‘The December 15 interim final rule, which increased the quota to 64,716 more H-2B nonimmigrant visas for fiscal year FY 2023, urged us to start accepting H-2B petitions, and only 44,716 of the 64,716 new visas were available for returning workers. Haitian, El Salvadoran, Guatemalan, and Honduran nationals exempt from the criteria for returning workers will be given the remaining 20,000 visas’
It has been made clear that petitioners whose workers were rejected for one of the 18,216 returning-worker allocations are urged to submit applications under the allocations for El Salvador, Haiti, Guatemala, and Honduras while visas are still available.
The agency reported that as of January 26 of this year, it had received requests from workers eligible for the El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala quotas and those exempt from the congressionally mandated cap. It also considered requests from current H-2B workers in the US who wanted to extend their stay and, if necessary, change the conditions of their employment or employers.
It has also been made known that petitions have been filed on behalf of individuals working as technicians, laborers, and processors of fish roe in Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. The H-2B visas allow foreign nationals to enter the country and work in non-agricultural sectors, assisting the US in addressing the labor shortages it is experiencing across numerous industries.
Following publishing a rule allowing such a decision, the US Department of Homeland Security and Labor highlighted in December last year that it would increase the maximum limit of H-2B visas for the first time.
And according to reports, the temporary final rule would double the number of H-2B visas, adding a total of 64,716 visas, and augment the usual 66,000 annual quotas previously imposed by Congress.
