On March 31, 2022, the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Labor (DOL) announced a forthcoming joint temporary final rule to make available an additional 35,000 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for the second half of fiscal year (FY) 2022. The visas will be set aside for U.S. employers seeking to employ additional workers on or after April 1, 2022, through September 30, 2022.

The agencies said the supplemental H-2B visa allocation includes 23,500 visas available to returning workers who received an H-2B visa or were otherwise granted H-2B status during one of the last three fiscal years. The remaining 11,500 visas, which are exempt from the returning worker requirement, are reserved for nationals of Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

The measure follows an announcement in January by DHS and DOL of the availability of 20,000 additional H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for the first half of FY 2022.

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