USCIS ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY AND ELIGIBLE COUNTRIES OF ADDITIONAL H-2A AND H-2B VISAS
On November 16, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), alongside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the Department of Labor (DOL) published a temporary final rule increasing the availability for H-2B temporary nonagricultural workers by an additional 64,716 visas for the fiscal year (FY) 2024. This is in addition to the statutory cap of 66,000 H-2B visas that are available each fiscal year.
By making these supplemental visas available at the outset of FY 2024, the Departments will help ensure U.S. businesses with workforce needs are able to plan and find the seasonal and temporary workers they need. American businesses in industries such as hospitality and tourism, landscaping, seafood processing, and more turn to seasonal and other temporary workers in the H-2B program to help them meet demand from consumers.
Simultaneously, DHS and DOL are reinforcing robust protections for U.S. and foreign workers alike by ensuring that employers first seek out and recruit American workers for the jobs to be filled, as the H-2B program requires, and that foreign workers hired are protected from unscrupulous employers.
The H-2B supplemental includes an allocation of 20,000 visas to workers from Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras. DHS and DOS also posted the list of countries whose nationals are eligible to participate in the H-2A and H-2B visa programs in the next year. Bolivia has been newly added to the list of 89 countries.
DHS maintains its authority to amend the eligible countries lists at any time through the publication of a Federal Register Notice, should DHS and DOS determine that a country fails to meet the requirements for continued designation. DHS has the authority to amend the eligible countries lists at any time DHS and DOS determine that a country fails to meet the requirements for continued designation. Such stipulations include refraining from fraud, abuse, nonimmigrant visa overstay rates, and other forms of noncompliance.
In addition to the country-specific H-2B visas, 44,716 supplemental visas will be available to returning workers who received H-2B visas or were otherwise granted H-2B status during one of the last three fiscal years.
To learn more about additional H-2B visa availability, view the USCIS alert.
For more information about countries eligible for H-2A and H-2B visa programs, click here.
