H-2B Cap for First Half of FY 2021 reached

As per a News Alert dated November 18, 2020, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services [USCIS] has announced that the H-2B cap for the first half of Financial Year 2021 has been reached.

The H-2B program allows employers or agents in the US – that meet the specific regulatory requirements – to bring in foreign nationals into the country for filling up temporary non-agricultural jobs.

Currently, the H-2B cap is set at 66,000 in any financial year.

33,000	Beginning employment between October 1 to March 31 [that is, the first half of the financial year]
33,000	Beginning employment between April 1 to September 30 [that is, the second half of the financial year]

Any remaining spaces from the first half of the fiscal year will be available for the second half of that financial year. Nevertheless, unused H-2B spaces are not carried forward onto the next financial year.

With the cap limit being reached, USCIS will then only be accepting petitions on behalf of H-2B workers that are exempt from the cap.

November 16, 2020 was the final receipt date for H-2B worker petitions seeking an employment start date prior to April 1, 2021.

As the number of petitions surpassed the total remaining spaces, a computer-generated process – commonly referred to as a lottery – was conducted by USCIS on November 18.

Following the lottery, USCIS assigned a receipt date of November 18 to all petitions selected.

Despite the limit being reached, USCIS continues to take in H-2B petitions exempt from the cap. These include petitions wherein –

Current H-2B workers in the US are extending their stay and might be changing their employers or terms of employment

Fish roe technicians, supervisors of fish roe processing, and/or fish roe processors

Workers performing services/labour in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam from November 28, 2009, until December 31, 2029.

Countries eligible for the H-2B visa of the US

With effect from January 19, 2020, foreign nationals from the below-mentioned 81 countries are eligible for the H-2B program –

Andorra	Argentina	Australia	Austria	Barbados	Belgium	Brazil	Brunei	Bulgaria	Canada
Chile	Columbia	Costa Rica	Croatia	Czech Republic	Denmark	Ecuador	El Salvador	Estonia	Fiji
Finland	France	Germany	Greece	Grenada	Guatemala	Honduras	Hungary	Iceland	Ireland
Israel	Italy	Jamaica	Japan	Kiribati	Latvia	Liechtenstein	Lithuania	Luxembourg	North Macedonia
Madagascar	Malta	Mexico	Monaco	Mongolia	Montenegro	Mozambique	Nauru	The Netherlands	Nicaragua
New Zealand	Norway	Panama	Papua New Guinea	Peru	Poland	Portugal	Romania	Samoa	San Marino
Serbia	Singapore	Slovakia	Slovenia	Solomon Islands	South Africa	South Korea	Spain	St Vincent and the Grenadines	Sweden
Switzerland	Taiwan	Thailand	Timor- Leste	Tonga	Turkey	Tuvalu	Ukraine	UK	Uruguay
Vanuatu	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

A foreign national belonging to a country not on the list of eligible countries might be the beneficiary of an approved H-2B petition, provided that the secretary of the Homeland Security determines it to be in the US interest for the individual to be the recipient of such a petition.

If you are looking to Study, Work, Visit, Invest or Migrate to the USA, talk to Y-Axis, the World’s No.1 Immigration & Visa Company.

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