As of April 17, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) received enough petitions to reach the cap for the additional 19,000 H-2B visas made available for returning workers for the early second half of fiscal year (FY) 2024.
CIS is still accepting petitions for H-2B workers for the additional 20,000 visas allotted for nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, and Costa Rica (country-specific allocation) who are exempt from the returning worker requirement.
Starting April 22, 2024, CIS will begin accepting petitions for workers for the late second half of FY 2024, requesting employment start dates from May 15 to Sept. 30, 2024.
The 5,000 visas made available under this allocation are limited to returning workers who were issued H-2B visas or held H-2B status in fiscal years 2021, 2022, or 2023, regardless of country of nationality.