Certain Petitions Continue to Be Accepted

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for fiscal year (FY) 2017.

Background
The H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs. There is a statutory numerical limit, or "cap," on the total number of foreign nationals who may be issued an H-2B visa or otherwise granted H-2B status during a fiscal year. Currently, Congress has set the H-2B cap at 66,000 per fiscal year.

Petitions Exempt from Cap
USCIS will generally reject new H-2B petitions received after March 13, 2017 that request an employment start date before October 1, 2017. However, the agency will continue to accept H-2B petitions that are exempt from the cap, including the following types of petitions:

• Current H-2B workers in the U.S. petitioning to extend their stay and, if applicable, change the terms of their employment or change their employers;
• Fish roe processors, fish roe technicians, or supervisors of fish roe processing; and
• Workers performing labor or services from November 28, 2009, until December 31, 2019, in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands or Guam.

Click here for more details on the cap count for H-2B nonimmigrants.

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