New York, Nov 20: The US Departments of Labor and Homeland Security have revealed an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary non-agricultural worker visas for FY 2024, supplementing the Congressionally-mandated 66,000 H-2B visas available each fiscal year. These visas enable US employers to address temporary workforce shortages by hiring non-citizens.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced this week that the allocation aims to aid US businesses in planning ahead and meeting their seasonal and temporary workforce needs for FY 2024. The H-2B supplemental includes a specific allocation of 20,000 visas for workers from countries such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras.
In addition to the country-specific allocation, 44,716 supplemental visas are earmarked for returning workers who had H-2B visas or H-2B status in the last three fiscal years. The allocation is split between the first and second halves of the fiscal year to accommodate the demand for seasonal and temporary workers throughout the year, with a portion reserved for the summer season.
The semiannual cap of 33,000 H-2B visas for the first half of FY 2024, authorized under the Immigration and Nationality Act (statutory cap), was reached on October 11, 2023.
These supplemental visas are exclusively available to US businesses facing or anticipating irreparable harm without the ability to employ all requested H-2B workers, as attested by the employer on a new attestation form.
