Employers May File H-2B Petitions for FY 2023 Late Second Half Returning Workers

HI INDIA NEWS DESK
WASHINGTON, DC- The H-2B visa program, which allows U.S. businesses to temporarily employ foreign workers in non-agricultural jobs. Starting April 13, 2023, USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) will begin accepting petitions for workers for the second half of fiscal year (FY) 2023, with employment start dates from May 15, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2023. This is under a temporary final rule that has increased the numerical limit on H-2B visas by up to 64,716 additional visas for FY 2023.

Out of the 64,716 additional visas, 44,716 are available only for returning workers who received an H-2B visa or held H-2B status in one of the past three fiscal years. The remaining 20,000 visas are set aside for nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Haiti, who are exempt from the returning worker requirement. As of April 10, 2023, USCIS has received petitions requesting 11,537 workers under this allocation.

Petitions for the supplemental allocations must be filed at the California Service Center and any petitions filed at any other location will be rejected, with the filing fees returned. The employer must attest on a new attestation form that they are suffering or will suffer irreparable harm without the ability to employ all the H-2B workers requested in their petition.