Visas for Seasonal Workers Still Available

On August 6, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it was reopening the filing period for H-2B petition for the 2009 fiscal year that ends on September 30, 2009.

H-2B visas are reserved for non-agricultural workers who enter the U.S. to perform temporary services for an employer on a seasonal, peak load or intermittent basis.

These workers are usually needed in industries that have shortage of U.S. workers such as resort/hospitality, landscaping, construction, health care, food services/ processing, manufacturing and education. Most of these workers are recruited from the Philippines, Mexico, India, China and Korea.

While the USCIS reported last January 7 that it had already accepted and approved a sufficient number of H-2B petitions for the current fiscal year, its latest announcement clarified that it had actually received far fewer petitions than expected.

Out of the 66,000 yearly allocation, only 40,640 H-2B visas has been issued to date, according to the USCIS. This leaves approximately 25,000 H-2B visas still available for issuance in fiscal year 2009.

To qualify for the H-2B visa for the fiscal year 2009, the employer must indicate an employment start date of September 30, 2009 or earlier. If the start date is October 1, it will be counted against the cap for the 2010 fiscal year. 8,974 H-2B petitions have already been received for the first half of fiscal year 2010, of which 8,183 have been approved and 791 still pending adjudication.

To obtain an H-2B visa, a Form I-129 Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker must be submitted to the USCIS with the required documents including an approved alien employment certification issued by the U.S. Department of Labor that is valid for the employment period indicated on the petition.

The USCIS normally adjudicates H-2B petitions within 60 days from application unless the applicant files for premium processing. Since the H-2B petitions must be received, evaluated and adjudicated on or before September 30, employers are encouraged to file their petitions as soon as possible and request for premium processing by filing Form I-907 along with the premium processing fee of $1,000 to expedite the process and beat the deadline. The premium processing will shorten the processing time to 15 calendar days.

An H-2B petition with a start date of September 30, 2009 or earlier, but is received on or after October 1, 2009 will not be counted towards the fiscal year 2009 H-2B cap.

The H-2B worker is usually issued for a year. In extraordinary cases, two one-year extensions may be allowed.

Unlike in H-1B (specialty occupation) cases, dual intent is not allowed in H-2B, which means that the filing of an immigrant petition or permanent labor certification is not allowed for H-2B workers.