United States | H-2B visa processing times update as of Jan. 30

The Department of Labor (DOL) reported that as of Jan. 30, 2025, a total of 5,829 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 108,189 workers.

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

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

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

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