American employers who wish to bring over workers from foreign countries for nonagricultural labor or services, which jobs there aren’t enough American workers to fill in, can apply to do so starting from April 13.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that on Thursday, it will start accepting petitions for employees for the late second half of the fiscal year 2023, who plan to begin their work in the US under the temporary H-2B supplemental cap between May 15 and September 30, this year, VisaGuide.World reports.
In a statement issued last Monday, April 10, the agency has noted that 10,000 visas will be available for this period, reiterating the fact that they will be issued only to returning workers who have already had a H-2B visa in the past fiscal years 2020, 2021, or 2022.
“These supplemental visas are available only to US 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 a new attestation form,” the agency also notes.
Further, USCIS recalls that the additional visas are being issued based on a decision of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) taken in December last year, to supply employers with an additional 64,716 additional H-2B visas for all fiscal year 2023.
Out of them, 44,716 are available only for returning workers, who have held an H-2B visa in one of the last fiscal years since 2020.
As per the remaining 20,000 visas, they will be allocated to nationals of the Northern Central American countries – El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras as well as Haiti. Workers from these countries are also exempt from the returning worker requirement.
During the early second half of FY 2023 for additional returning worker H-2B visas, for workers planning to return to work between April 1, to May 14, USCIS has reached the cap on March 31. Regarding the visas allotted for the Northern Central American countries and Haiti, the agency has received only 11,537 petitions.
The agency continues to accept H-2B applications for workers who are not included in the congressionally mandated cap, which are those currently in the US applying to extend their stay, workers who wish to be hired for labor or services in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam as well as:
fish roe processors
fish roe technicians
supervisors of fish roe processing
The H-2B visa is dedicated to temporary non-agricultural workers who are needed by American companies in the US to fill in job positions in the absence of American workers. It is valid for a maximum of one year, though it can be extended.
H-2B visa holders can also bring their spouse and children under 21 to the US, under an H-4 visa.
>> US Reaches Cap for Additional H-2B Non-Agricultural Visas for Early 2nd Half of 2023
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