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United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it has reached its H2B visa cap for temporary non-agricultural workers for the first half of FY 2021. According to a press release issued by USCIS, November 16 was the final receipt date of new H2B visa applications requesting an employment start date before April 1, 2021.
The USCIS press release said: “Cap-subject H2B applications received after November 16 will be rejected.”
USCIS indicated that it had received and surpassed the total number of H2B visas available to reach the congressionally mandated cap for the first half of the 2021 Fiscal Year.
Computer-generated process
The USCIS press release said: “In accordance with regulations, USCIS determined it was necessary to use a computer-generated process, commonly known as a lottery, to ensure the fair and orderly allocation of H2B visa numbers to meet, but not exceed, the cap for the first half of FY 2021.”
The lottery was conducted on November 18, which randomly selected petitions from those received on November 16. Following the lottery, USCIS assigned all petitions selected in the lottery with a receipt date of November 18. On the same date, premium processing services for petitions selected in the lottery were also made available.
The USCIS press release did state it continues to accept H2B visa petitions that are exempt from the congressionally mandated cap, which includes the following types of petitions:
Current H2B workers in the US who are extending their stay and, if applicable, changing the terms of their employment or changing their employers
Fish roe processors, fish roe technicians, and/or supervisors of fish roe processing; and
Workers performing labor or services in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam from November 28, 2009, until December 31, 2029.
H2B cap
The H2B visa program is used by US businesses to hire foreign workers for temporary, non-agricultural jobs. Congress currently has the H2B visa cap set at 66,000 per year. 33,000 are issued to workers who start employment in the first half of the Fiscal Year, which runs from October 1 – March 31.
The remaining 33,000, plus any left over from the first half of the Fiscal Year, are issued to workers who start work in the second half of the Fiscal Year, which runs from April 1 – September 30.
In March this year, the Department of Homeland Security announced that an additional 35,000 H2B visas would be issued to seasonal guest workers. The government has been under pressure to scrap the cap, with demand for H2B visas routinely exceeding supply.
However, the issuance of new H2B visas is currently suspended, along with H1B visas, L1 visas and J1 visas, under Trump’s controversial work visa ban. The ban is set to remain in place until at least December 31, 2020.
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