The Departments of Labor and Homeland Security Publish Rule Increasing the Number of H-2B Visas Available in the Second Half of Fiscal Year 2021
Announcement from the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC)
The Departments of Labor and Homeland Security Publish Rule Increasing the Number of H-2B Visas Available in the Second Half of Fiscal Year 2021
The U.S. Departments of Labor and Homeland Security have published a temporary rule increasing the numerical limitation on H-2B nonimmigrant visas to authorize the issuance of no more than 22,000 additional visas through the end of the second half of Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 to employers likely to suffer irreparable harm. The FY 2021 allocation of 22,000 visas consists of up to 16,000 visas for returning workers and up to 6,000 visas for nationals of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. The rule provides additional protections for U.S. workers, flexibility for foreign workers, and additional recruitment requirements for certain employers.
In support of this rule, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) has posted the new Form ETA-9142-B-CAA-4 and the accompanying instructions. The temporary rule requires an employer to attest, among others, to the fact that it will likely suffer irreparable harm if it cannot employ the requested H-2B workers. This attestation must be submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services along with Form I-129, in support of an H-2B application subject to the H-2B cap before the end of FY 2021. The attestation is also available on the Forms page of the OFLC website found at: www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor/forms.