USCIS Reaches H-2B Cap for Second Half of FY2023

USCIS announced that it received enough petitions to meet the H-2B cap for the second half of FY2023 and announced the filing dates for supplemental H-2B visas for the remainder of FY2023 made available under the FY2023 H-2B supplemental visa temporary final rule. February 27, 2023, is the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B work petitions requesting a start date on or after April 1, 2023.

The notice states:

Filing Dates for Second Half of FY 2023 Supplemental Visas

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) jointly published a temporary final rule on Dec. 15, 2022, increasing the numerical limit (or cap) on H-2B nonimmigrant visas by up to 64,716 additional visas for all of FY 2023. These supplemental visas are available only to U.S. businesses that are suffering irreparable harm or will suffer impending irreparable harm without the ability to employ all the H-2B workers requested in their petition, as attested by the employer on the DOL Form ETA 9142-B-CAA-7 (PDF). These supplemental H-2B visas are for U.S. employers seeking to petition for additional workers at certain periods of the fiscal year before Sept. 15, 2023.

Below are the filing start dates for each of the remaining supplemental visa allocations under the temporary final rule:

• For employers seeking nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Haiti: USCIS will begin accepting petitions for employers requesting an employment start date from Apr. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2023, on March 14, 2023. USCIS began accepting petitions from employers with employment start dates from Oct. 1, 2022, to Mar. 31, 2023, in December 2022. A cap count for this Northern Central American/Haiti allocation is available on the Temporary Increase in H-2B Nonimmigrant Visas for FY 2023 page.
• For employers seeking workers for the early second half of FY 2023 (Apr. 1 to May 14): USCIS will begin accepting petitions for the additional 16,500 visas made available to returning workers regardless of country of nationality on March 14, 2023.
• For employers seeking workers for the late second half of FY 2023 (May 15 to Sept. 30): USCIS will begin accepting petitions for the additional 10,000 visas made available to returning workers regardless of country of nationality on April 13, 2023.

USCIS has already announced that we have received enough petitions to reach the cap for the additional 18,216 H-2B visas made available for returning workers for the first half of FY 2023 with employment start dates on or before March 31, 2023.