U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on September 19, 2024, that it has received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated cap on H-2B visas for temporary nonagricultural workers for the first half of fiscal year 2025. USCIS said that September 18 was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date before April 1, 2025. “We will reject new cap-subject H-2B petitions we receive after Sept. 18 that request an employment start date before April 1, 2025,” the agency said.
USCIS said it is still accepting H-2B petitions that are exempt from the congressionally mandated cap, including:
- Current H-2B workers in the United States who extend their stay, change employers, or change the terms and conditions of their employment;
- Fish roe processors, fish roe technicians, and/or supervisors of fish roe processing; and
- Workers performing labor or services in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam from November 28, 2009, until December 31, 2029.
USCIS noted that Congress has set the H-2B cap at 66,000 per fiscal year, with 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the first half of the fiscal year (October 1-March 31) and 33,000 (plus any unused numbers from the first half of the fiscal year) for workers who begin employment in the second half of the fiscal year (April 1-September 30).