United States | H-2B visa processing times update as of Feb. 13

The Department of Labor (DOL) reported that as of Feb. 13, 2025, a total of 5,883 cases were issued Final Decision for fiscal year (FY) 2025 (first half of the visa cap) with a Requested Date of Need from Oct. 1, 2024, through March 31, 2025. Certified positions for this period were allocated for 109,866 workers.

The chart below indicates the number of Final Decisions issued and Positions Certified for filing windows from July 2024 to February 2025:

*Indicates an increase in November– January case and worker numbers from those reported as of Jan. 30.

**As of COB Feb. 13, there were no Final Decisions issued or Positions Certified, although four cases were submitted and positions requested for 79 workers.

As of Jan. 7, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services received enough petitions to reach the additional 20,716 H-2B visas made available for returning workers for the first half of FY 2025 with start dates on or before March 31, 2025.

DOL completed processing of Group A (1,161 cases were issued a Final Decision with Positions Certified for 16,498 workers) and Group B (one case was issued Final Decision) received for Requested Date of Need from April 1, 2025.

DOL is still processing Group C for applications received for Requested Date of Need from April 1, 2025.

Background on Assignment Groups: The initial H-2B Assignment Group (i.e., Group A) will always include the number of H-2B applications containing a sufficient amount of worker positions to reach the applicable numerical visa cap, even if the numerical limits of the Immigration and Nationality Act are subsequently changed. Additional Assignment Groups are assigned in ascending sequential order for all remaining H-2B applications that were filed during the initial three-day filing window that requested the earliest start date of work permitted. Each H-2B Assignment Group after Group A (e.g., Group B, Group C, etc.) will total no more than 20,000 worker positions, or roughly 1,000 applications per group. More background on H-2B Temporary Labor Certification Program and the origin of Assignment Groups can be found here.

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

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