Non-Agricultural Visa Applications Closed

The Immigration and Citizenship Service (USCIS) announced that it will close the visa application process for non-agricultural temporary jobs (H-2B) because they have reached the maximum regulatory amount of applications.

As is known, the H-2B visa is aimed at US companies that demand foreign workers for non-agricultural temporary work.

According to the Migration and Citizenship service, the US Congress establishes a maximum amount of 66,000 of these visas for each fiscal year. 33,000 of them are for workers who begin to work during the first half of the fiscal year (from April 1 to September 30) and the remaining 33,000 for those who do so for the second half of the indicated fiscal period.

But what would happen after this H-2B Visa cancellation?

Affected would be those who intended to apply for visas for the first part of fiscal year 2020, since in the statement issued Wednesday by the USCIS Agency, it indicates that it will not receive requests after November 15 that have a previous work start date. as of April 1, 2020. However, the USCIS Agency will continue to accept H-2B petitions for workers who begin after April 1 and are exempt from the limit amount set by the US Congress.

These 3 exceptions are:

– Extension of stay for workers with H-2B Visa who are already in the US; These people could change their working or even employer conditions.

– Work of fish roe processor.

– Workers who perform work or services in the commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and / or Guam between November 28, 2009 and December 21, 2029.