The Departments of Homeland Security and Labor announced yesterday, March 31, 2022, that they would make an additional 35,000 visas available to users of the H-2B program for the second half of Fiscal Year 2022 with the publication of a joint temporary final rule. 23, 500 visas will be made available for returning workers, those who have held an H-2B visa during the previous three fiscal years while 11, 500 will be reserved for any workers from Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The annual cap for the H-2B program is set at 66,000 visas with 33,000 released at the start of the Fiscal Year on October 1 and the remainder released on April 1, 2022. Those employers with an April 1, 2022 start date sent in requests for approximately 140,000 workers so these additional visas will be a welcome relief to all. Green and Spiegel, U.S. will be sure to update you with particulars of the visa release once the final rule has been published.
Representatives from both USCIS and the OFLC (Office of Foreign Labor Certification) will be on hand at AILA’s Spring Conference. Join Green and Spiegel, U.S. Attorney, Amy Novak, for the Department of Labor Open Forum at the Annual Conference.
