The Departments of Labor (DOL) and Homeland Security (DHS) plan to publish a temporary rule on February 3, 2026, to exercise their time-limited Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 authority to issue up to an additional 64,716 H-2B visas for this fiscal year. The supplemental visas will be available only to U.S. businesses “that are suffering or will suffer impending irreparable harm, i.e., those facing permanent and severe financial loss, as attested by the employer,” an advance copy of the rule states. The supplemental visas “will be distributed in three allocations based on the petitioner’s start date of need through the end of the fiscal year”:
- 18,490 immediately available visas limited to returning workers, that is, those who were issued an H-2B visa or otherwise granted H-2B status in FYs 2023, 2024, or 2025, and who will be available for eligible employers with a need for workers to begin work between January 1, 2026, through March 31, 2026. Employers must file these petitions no later than 14 days after the second half of the statutory cap is reached;
- 27,736 visas, plus any unused visas from the first allocation, limited to returning workers, that is, those who were issued an H-2B visa or otherwise granted H-2B status in FYs 2023, 2024, or 2025, and who will be available for eligible employers with a need for workers to begin work between April 1, 2026, and April 30, 2026. Employers must file these petitions no earlier than 15 days after the second half of the statutory cap is reached; and
- 18,490 visas, plus any unused visas from the first or second allocations, for those who will be available for eligible employers with a need for workers to begin work between May 1, 2026, and September 30, 2026. These petitions are exempt from the returning worker requirement. Employers must file these petitions no earlier than 45 days after the second half of the statutory cap is reached.
DHS said that it will not accept any H-2B petitions under provisions related to the FY 2026 supplemental numerical allocations after September 15, 2026, and will not approve any such H 2B petitions after September 30, 2026. The rule is effective from January 30, 2026, through September 30, 2026, except for the requirements at 20 CFR 655.69, which are effective from January 30, 2026, through September 30, 2029. Under the document retention requirements at 20 CFR 655.69, petitioners must retain documents and records demonstrating compliance with this rule for three years from the date of the attestation, and must provide the documents and records at the request of DHS or DOL.
Comments on the temporary rule will be accepted for 60 days from publication and can be submitted via the method noted in the rule.
