USCIS: H-2B cap reached for first half of fiscal year 2025

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on Sept. 19 that it had reached the H-2B cap for the first half of fiscal year 2025. That means noncitizens who want to apply for the temporary nonagricultural worker program will have to wait a little longer.

September 18 has been set as the “last day to receive” the Congressionally mandated cap on H-2B worker employment applications for the first half of fiscal year 2025. USCIS will no longer accept any more H-2B worker employment applications seeking to begin work before April 1, 2025. The official USCIS website states that Congress set the cap on H-2B applications at 66,000 per fiscal year, with 33,000 of those capped at workers who begin work in the first half of the fiscal year (October 1 – March 31) and the remaining 50% for workers who begin work in the second half (April 1 – September 30).

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Workers exempt from the H-2B cap mandated by Congress

However, the official notice also stated that some workers in the United States who fall under H-2B status are exempt from the H-2B cap. Therefore, any noncitizen workers with this status who extend their stay, change employers, or change working conditions are not subject to the cap mandated by Congress.

In addition, H-2B workers who have already been included in the cap in the same tax year in which the employment begins are not subject to the cap if the employer identifies them by name in the application and clearly mentions that they have already been included. Spouses and children of H-2B workers who are classified as H-4 nonimmigrants are also not included in this cap.

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In addition, applications from fish roe processors, fish roe technicians, or fish roe processing supervisors, as well as workers performing labor or service activities in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands or Guam through December 31, 2029, are exempt from the statutory H-2B numerical limitation.