Business Immigration Weekly for April 3, 2015

H-2B CAP FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015 REACHED

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that the statutory cap of 33,000 H-2B visas allotted for the second half of fiscal year 2015 has been reached as of March 26, 2015. These H-2B visa petitions requested a start date of October 1, 2015. The H-2B visa is for Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers and requires employers to establish that their need for a foreign worker's services is temporary, that there are insufficient U.S. workers that are able, available, qualified and willing to accept the H-2B position and that the hiring of a foreign worker will not adversely affect the working conditions and wages of U.S. workers. Certain H-2B petitions are exempt from the statutory cap and these include H-2B workers that are extending their status; fish roe: processors, technicians or supervisors; and workers performing services in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands or Guam (between November 28, 2009 until December 31, 2019).