H-2B Visas Increased Again to Fight U.S. Labor Shortage

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) will make an additional 35,000 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas available for the second half of fiscal year 2022. These visas will be set aside for U.S. employers seeking to employ additional workers on or after April 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2022, DHS reports.

“Informed by current demand in the labor market, today we are announcing the availability of an additional 35,000 H-2B visas that will help to support American businesses and expand legal pathways for workers seeking to come to the United States,” DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in a release. “Recognizing the importance of strong worker protections, we will apply greater scrutiny to those employers who have a record of violating obligations to their workers and the H-2B program.”  

The supplemental H-2B visa allocation consists of 23,500 visas available to returning workers, who received an H-2B visa or were otherwise granted H-2B status, during one of the last three fiscal years, DHS said. The remaining 11,500 visas, which are exempt from the returning worker requirement, are reserved for workers from Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.  

"A provision in the recently approved omnibus spending bill states that previous H-2B visa holders who receive one of the additional visas won’t count against the overall H-2B cap," the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) wrote in Capital Update. "In January, the administration allowed an additional 20,000 foreign workers into the country under the H-2B visa program for the period Oct. 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022. Employers requesting H-2B visas must attest to the U.S. Department of Labor that they will offer a wage that equals or exceeds the higher of a region’s prevailing wage, applicable federal minimum wage or the state or local minimum wage."

The H-2B program permits employers to hire noncitizens to perform temporary nonagricultural labor or services in the U.S. The employment must be for a limited period of time, such as a one-time occurrence, seasonal or intermittent need. DHS says that employers seeking to hire H-2B workers must take a series of steps to test the U.S. labor market. They must provide DOL certification explaining that there are not enough U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified and available to do the temporary work for which they seek a prospective foreign worker, and that employing the H-2B workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. 

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