On Friday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reached its cap for the additional 16,500 H-2B visas available for returning workers for the early second half of fiscal year 2023 with start dates from April 1 to May 14.
Employers that did not have their allotment accepted are encouraged to apply under the separate allotment for nationals of Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, as petitions are still being accepted for those groups, USCIS said.
USCIS routinely releases extra visas to meet demand, but the H-2B visa program has faced some scrutiny of late. An August report from the Economic Policy Institute found that industries that employ H-2B visa workers accounted for nearly $1.8 billion in wage and hour violations during the past two decades — meaning the program could be exploiting the migrant workers it serves, as well as the U.S. citizens they work beside.
Notably, leaders have indicated that changes may be coming to the program, which remains keenly important to hospitality and food service industries, among others. In a May 2022 letter to Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said the federal government would be reforming the H-2B program as well as the similar H-2A agricultural worker visa program.
On April 13, USCIS will accept petitions for the late second half of FY 2023, with employment start dates from May 15 to Sept. 30. Only 10,000 visas are under that allocation, limited to returning workers who previously held H-2B status.
