H-2B Cap Reached For FY 2019
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that
it has received enough petitions to meet the congressionally
mandated H-2B cap for the second half of fiscal year (FY) 2019.
February 19, 2019, was the final receipt date for new cap-subject
H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker petitions requesting an
employment start date before October 1, 2019. USCIS will reject new
cap-subject H-2B petitions received after February 19 that request
an employment start date before October 1, 2019.
On February 19, the number of beneficiaries USCIS received
petitions for surpassed the total number of remaining H-2B visas
available for the H-2B cap for the second half of FY 2019. In
accordance with regulations, USCIS said it determined that it was
necessary to use a computer-generated process, commonly known as a
lottery, to ensure the fair and orderly allocation of H-2B visa
numbers to meet, but not exceed, the remainder of the FY 2019 cap.
On February 21, USCIS conducted a lottery to randomly select
petitions from those received on February 19. As a result, USCIS
assigned all petitions selected in the lottery the receipt date of
February 22. Premium processing service for petitions selected in
the lottery also began on that date.
USCIS continues to accept H-2B petitions that are exempt from
the congressionally mandated cap. This includes petitions for:
- Current H-2B workers in the UnitedStates petitioning to extend their stay and, if applicable, change
the terms of their employment or change their employers;
- Fish roe processors, fish roetechnicians, and/or supervisors of fish roe processing; and
- Workers performing labor or servicesin the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam
from November 28, 2009, until December 31, 2029.
Congress has set the H-2B cap at 66,000 per fiscal year, with
33,000 for workers who begin employment in the first half of the
fiscal year and 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the
second half of the fiscal year plus any unused numbers from the
first half of the fiscal year, if any. However, unused H-2B numbers
from one fiscal year do not carry over into the next, USCIS
explained.
Also, a new letter sent on February 22, 2019, from the H-2B
Workforce Coalition urges the Department of Homeland Security to
add H-2B numbers as authorized by the Fiscal 2019 Consolidated
Appropriations Act. The 40-page letter, endorsed by hundreds of
employers and organizations, notes:
Without immediate action, many employers across the country will
be without the critical workforce they need to operate this spring
and summer. These businesses will not be able to fulfill contracts.
They will be forced to turn away customers and may need to lay off
American workers whose jobs are supported by H-2B workers. In some
cases, they will be compelled to shut down their operations
entirely. … The H-2B program is essential to employers who
cannot find local temporary workers to fill jobs in seafood
processing, horse training, hospitality and amusement parks,
forestry, landscaping, circuses, carnivals, food concessionaires,
swimming pool maintenance, golf courses, stone quarries and other
seasonal industries. These seasonal businesses need H-2B workers to
supplement their American workforce. The H-2B program relies on
well-vetted returning workers who come to the U.S. for seasonal
employment and then go home. These workers are not immigrants. They
provide an opportunity for U.S. businesses to operate at a greater
capacity, retain their full-time workers and contribute to their
local economy.
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