INS Advises on Part-Time H-2B Visa

Ms. Bette Jean Lahti
Suite 208
29551 Greenfield Road
Southfield, Michigan 48076

Dear Ms. Lahti:

This refers to your letter of August 11 in which you question whether an H-2B nonimmigrant alien may engage in part-time employment.

In the scenario described in you letter, an alien was admitted to the United States as an H-2B nonimmigrant based on petition supported by a labor certification indicating that the alien was to be employed full-time, or forty hours a week. The alien now desires to work part-time, or twenty hours a week, for the petitioning employer and, in addition, to work part-time for another U.S. employer. You question whether this is permissible.

There is nothing in statute or the current regulation which precludes an alien from working part-time as an H-2B nonimmigrant alien. Further, there is nothing in the statute or relating regulations precluding an alien from working two part-time jobs at the same time providing that both employers petition for the alien and, provided further, that the jobs are temporary. The Department of Labor has advised in General Administration Letter 10-84, dated April 23, 1994, that temporary employment should not be confused with part-time employment which doesn't qualify for temporary labor certification.

I trust this response satisfactorily addresses your concerns.

Sincerely,

Jacquelyn A. Bednarz
Chief, Nonimmigrant Branch
Adjudications

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