On May 6, the administration announced an additional 30,000 H-2B temporary non-agricultural worker visas will be available for fiscal year (FY) 2019. AGC has routinely asked Congress to expand the cap on H-2Bs. These supplemental H-2B visas are available only to returning workers who received an H-2B visa, or were otherwise granted H-2B status, during one of the last three fiscal years (FY 2016, 2017, or 2018). Availability is restricted by prioritizing only those businesses who would suffer irreparable harm without the additional workers. Final details on the increase in H-2B Nonimmigrant Visas for FY 2019 can now be found here.
The H-2B program allows U.S. employers who meet specific regulatory requirements to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary (seasonal) non-agricultural jobs. Congress has typically capped the number of the temporary visas at 66,000 a year – 33,000 for summer and for winter – though the Trump administration has raised that number by 15,000 in each of the last two years.
For more information, contact Claiborne Guy at claiborne.guy@agc.org or 703-837-5382.