On November 15, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in consultation with the Department of Labor (DOL), announced that it expects to make available an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for fiscal year 2025, on top of the congressionally mandated 66,000 H-2B visas that are available each fiscal year, as it has done in years past.
“The supplemental visa allocation will help address the need for seasonal and temporary workers in areas where too few U.S. workers are available, willing and qualified to do the temporary work and address the labor needs of American businesses,” including in hospitality and tourism, landscaping, seafood processing, and other industries, DOL said.
The H-2B supplemental rule would include an allocation of 20,000 visas for workers from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, and Costa Rica, and a separate allocation of 44,716 supplemental visas for 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 the 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,” DOL said.