In order to help US workers as well as foreign workers, USCIS increased the number of H-2B Visas by 64,716 for the year 2024.

Additional visas for H-2B workers will be provided to Colombians, Costa Ricans, Ecuadorians, El Salvadorians, Guatemalans, Haitians, and Hondurans, and we will provide 44,716 visas to H-2B workers.

The short-term final rule supports Biden’s commitment to legal pathways, emphasizing DHS and DOL efforts to protect U.S. employers and prioritize American workers for job vacancies.

The H-2B program lets American companies hire people from other countries to do non-farming jobs in the U.S. for a short time. The job should be temporary, only needed once, or for a specific period. Employers need approval from the U.S. government before hiring someone on an H-2B visa. The Department of Labor (DOL) gives a certificate for this. People with an H-2B visa can stay in the U.S. for up to 3 years, but then they have to leave.

H-2B visas have been divided into the following allotment:

• 20,716 visas are immediately available to returning workers: those who obtained an H-2B visa or obtained H-2B status in FY 2021, FY 2022, or FY 2023, regardless of the country in which they did it, have nationality. These candidates must request employment start dates before March 31, 2024.
• 19,000 visas are limited to returning workers: those who obtained an H-2B visa or maintained H-2B status in the fiscal year 2021, fiscal year 2022, or the fiscal year 2023, regardless of nationality of residence. These applications, which begin at the beginning of the second half of fiscal year 2024, must request employment start dates between April 1, 2024 and May 14, 2024.
• 5,000 visas are limited to returning workers: those who obtained an H-2B visa or had H-2B status in FY 2021, FY 2022, or FY 2023, whichever their country of citizenship. These petitions for the second half of fiscal year 2024 must request employment start dates of May 15, 2024 through September 30, 2024.