Biden Administration Approves 22,000 Additional H-2B Visas

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today that it will issue an additional 22,000 H-2B guest worker visas over the coming months. Of these additional visas, 6,000 will be reserved for workers from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

Why It Matters

H-2B visas allow employers to hire foreign workers to come temporarily to the United States and perform temporary non-agricultural services or labor — including construction work — on a one-time, seasonal, peakload or intermittent basis.

The number of H-2B visas available each fiscal year is statutorily capped at 66,000, but an increased demand for seasonal workers has prompted DHS to authorize supplemental visas in the prior three years. Given the chronic labor shortages facing the home building industry, NAHB has been urging both Congress and DHS to expand the number of H-2B visas available each year, including restoring an exemption for returning H-2B workers from counting toward the program’s annual statutory cap.

View the Department of Homeland Security news release.