USCIS has announced that on December 6, 2018, the cap of 33,000 H-2B non-agricultural seasonal work visas for the first half of FY 2019 (October 1, 2018-March 31, 2019) was reached. Petitions subject to the cap with employment start dates prior to April 1, 2019 will be returned to the petitioners. Cap exempt petitions will still be accepted. Petitions for positions starting on April 1, 2019 or later will be accepted electronically via the Department of Labor’s iCERT portal beginning at 12:00 a.m. on January 1, 2019.
H-2B visas are used particularly in Maine’s seasonal hospitality sector. A 15,000 bump in the number of available H-2B visas created by Congress to respond to the shortage of H-2B visas during the second half of FY 2018 expired on September 30, 2018. Congress should enact a permanent and substantial increase in the number of H-2B visas so that employers can look to the program as one that can be relied on to meet their seasonal labor needs
Maine employers who want details about which workers are cap-exempt, or who want to check the number of H-2B visa petitions already accepted that count towards the 33,000 visa cap for the second half of FY 2019 (April 1 – Sept. 30, 2019) can check here.