On November 3, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in consultation with the Department of Labor, announced that it will make available an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for fiscal year (FY) 2024 via a temporary final rule. This is on top of the congressionally mandated 66,000 H-2B visas that are available each fiscal year. DHS said the supplemental visa allocation “will help address the need for seasonal or other temporary workers in areas where too few U.S. workers are available.”
The H-2B supplemental is expected to include an allocation of 20,000 visas to workers from Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras, DHS said. In addition, 44,716 supplemental visas will be 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 regulation would allocate these supplemental visas for returning workers between the first half and second half of the fiscal year to account for the need for additional seasonal and other temporary workers over the course of the year, with a portion of the second half allocation reserved to meet the demand for workers during the peak summer season,” DHS said.
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