United States | H-2B supplemental visa breakdown for remainder of FY 2025

Last week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the H-2B visa cap was reached for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2025. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor jointly published a temporary final rule on Dec. 2, 2024, increasing the numerical limit (or cap) on H-2B nonimmigrant visas by up to 64,716 additional visas for all of FY 2025. Of the 64,716 supplemental visas, 44,716 are available only for certain returning workers.

The breakdown of the H-2B supplemental visas for spring and summer is as follows:

For the early second half of FY 2025 (April 1 through May 14)

• There were 19,000 visas limited to returning workers who were issued H-2B visas or held H-2B status in FY 2022, 2023 or 2024, regardless of country or nationality.
• These early second half of FY 2025 petitions must have requested employment start dates from April 1, 2025, through May 14, 2025.
• Employers were required to file these petitions no earlier than March 20, 2025 (15 days after the second half statutory cap was reached).

For the late second half of FY 2025 (May 15 through Sept. 30)

• There were 5,000 visas limited to returning workers who were issued H-2B visas or held H-2B status in FY 2022, 2023 or 2024, regardless of country of nationality.
• These late second half of FY 2025 petitions must request employment start dates from May 15, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2025.
• Employers must file these petitions no earlier than April 21, 2025 (45 days after the second half statutory cap was reached).

For the entirety of FY 2025

• There were 20,000 visas reserved for nationals of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras (country-specific allocations by law), attested by each petitioner regardless of whether those nationals are returning workers.
• Employers who requested an employment start date in the first half of FY 2025 (on or before March 31, 2025) must have filed their petitions immediately on or after Dec. 2, 2024.
• Employers requesting an employment start date in the second half of FY 2025 (on or after April 1, 2025) must file their petitions no earlier than March 20, 2025 (15 days after the second half statutory cap is reached).

More information on the allocation of supplemental visas can be found here.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.

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