December 7, 2006

H-2B Cap Reached for the First Half of the Fiscal Year for 2007

On December 6, 2006 the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received a satisfactory number of petitions to fulfill the H-2B cap number set forth by Congress (33,000 H-2B workers) for the initial six months of the 2007 fiscal year . November 28, 2006 is the final receipt date for petitions being accepted for new H-2B workers who wish to request employment start dates prior to April 1, 2007. For all petitions that are subject to the cap and were given a receipt date of November 28, 2006, a computer-generated random selection will decide which petitions will be accepted. The number of petitions randomly selected will be determined by the space remaining below the cap. A petition will be automatically rejected for the following reasons:

1) If the petition was received on November 28, 2006, and was not randomly selected.

2) Any petitions requesting a start date before April 1, 2007 and arrive after November 28, 2006.

Thankfully, due to the exemptions gained by pro-immigration groups, the H-2B cap is not applicable to either, employees who currently work in H-2B or, returning H-2B workers. To qualify as a returning worker, the worker must have been counted against the H-2B cap between October 1, 2003 and September 30, 2006. If a worker is not considered a "returning" worker, that person is subject to the H-2B cap of the current fiscal year.

The USCIS is still accepting petitions filed for:

1) H-2B workers with start dates on April 1, 2007 or later, as long as the petitions are supported by valid temporary labor certification.

2) Extensions of petitions for current H-2B worker in the U.S.

3) Amendments of current H-2B workers with regards to changed terms of employment, or changed/added employers.

4) Requests on behalf of eligible H-2B returning workers.

The H-2B program is available to those employers seeking skilled or unskilled alien workers to meet temporary or seasonal needs in positions for which qualified U.S. workers are not available. Both the services for which the employer requests H-2B labor approval and the employer’s need for such services must be temporary. There is currently an annual cap of 66,000 visas for H-2B workers which is divided into two parts in order to fairly disperse the visas among the seasons.