US stops accepting H-2B petitions for job start dates before April 1, 2025

Foreigners looking to work in America as temporary nonagricultural workers will have to wait a little longer. The number of visas to be issued to temporary nonagricultural workers has reached the maximum limit as set by the USA.

For you to come to the United States lawfully as a nonimmigrant to work temporarily, your prospective employer must generally file a nonimmigrant petition on your behalf with USCIS.

USCIS 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.

September 18 was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date before April 1, 2025. USCIS will reject new cap-subject H-2B petitions that they will receive after September 18 that request an employment start date before April 1, 2025.

September 18 was the ‘final receipt date’ for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting employment start dates before April 1, 2025. The ‘final receipt date’ is the date on which we determine that we received enough cap-subject petitions to reach the limit of 33,000 H-2B workers for the first half of fiscal year 2025.

However, USCIS is still accepting H-2B petitions that are exempt from the congressionally mandated cap, such as current H-2B workers in the United States who extend their stay, change employers, or change the terms and conditions of their employment.

Similarly, H-2B workers who have previously been counted against the cap in the same fiscal year that the proposed employment begins will not be subject to the cap if the employer names them on the petition and indicates that they have already been counted. The spouses and children of H-2B workers classified as H-4 nonimmigrants also do not count against this cap.

U.S. businesses use the H-2B program to employ foreign workers for temporary nonagricultural jobs. Currently, 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 (Oct. 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-Sept. 30).

Any unused numbers from the first half of the fiscal year will be available for employers seeking to hire H-2B workers during the second half of the fiscal year. Unused H-2B numbers from one fiscal year do not carry over into the next fiscal year.

H-2B petitioners must also provide a single valid temporary labor certification from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).