Nearly 65,000 Additional H-2B Visas to be Issued
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it will be making available an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary non-agricultural worker visas for fiscal year 2025, which began on Oct. 1, on top of the standard 66,000 H-2B visas that are normally available each fiscal year.
H-2B visas allow employers to hire foreign workers who come temporarily to the United States and perform temporary non-agricultural services or labor — including construction work — on a one-time, seasonal, peak-load or intermittent basis.
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.
The H-2B supplemental rule includes an allocation of 20,000 visas to workers from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador or Costa Rica. The remaining 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 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.
Additional details on eligibility and filing requirements will be available in the temporary final rule and on the DHS Cap Count for H-2B Nonimmigrants webpage.
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