FY 2018 H-2B Cap Reached for First Half of Year

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that the first half of fiscal year 2018 has already reached the mandated cap for H-2B visa petitions. This is applicable to individuals that have an employment start date before April 1, 2018. Any petitions for H-2B visas that were submitted after December 15, 2018, will be rejected if the employment start date is prior to April 1, 2018.

That being said, it is important to note that there are certain H-2B petitions that are exempt from the congressionally mandated cap because individuals are needed to fill these employment positions. These include current H-2B visas that wish to either extend their stay or change employers; technicians, processors, or supervisors of the fish roe industry; and/or workers in labor or services in Guam or the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands from November 2009 through December 2019.

In addition, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is already accepting H-2B employment petitions for employees with start dates on or after April 1, 2018. These are for the second half of fiscal year 2018 because the fiscal year begins in October of each year.

The cap for the entire fiscal year of H-2B petitions is 66,000 employees, with 33,000 petitions granted in each half of the fiscal year. These are only for foreign employees with temporary jobs in fields outside of agriculture.

If you have questions about employment visas in the United States, contact us today.

John Sesini is an experienced immigration attorney with offices in Green Bay and Milwaukee Wisconsin. If you have any questions regarding these matters, please contact the Sesini Law Group, S.C. and obtain your initial consultation.

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