“The U.S. Departments of Labor and Homeland Safety have printed a brief ultimate rule (TFR) rising the numerical limitation on H-2B nonimmigrant visas to authorize the issuance of not more than 64,716 extra visas for Fiscal 12 months (FY) 2024 positions to employers which are struggling irreparable hurt or will endure impending irreparable hurt with out the power to make use of all the H-2B employees requested beneath the cap improve. Of the 64,716 visas accessible, as much as 44,716 are restricted to H-2B returning employees, and as much as 20,000 are reserved for nationals of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, or Costa Rica. The TFR offers extra protections for U.S. employees, flexibility for international employees, and extra recruitment necessities for sure employers.
In help of this rule, the Workplace of International Labor Certification (OFLC) has posted the brand new Type ETA-9142-B-CAA-9 and the accompanying directions. The TFR requires an employer to attest, amongst different issues, to the truth that it’s struggling irreparable hurt or will endure impending irreparable hurt with out the power to make use of all the H-2B employees requested beneath the cap improve. This attestation have to be submitted to america Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) together with Type I-129, in help of an H-2B utility topic to the H-2B cap. DHS won’t settle for any H-2B petitions beneath provisions associated to the FY 2025 supplemental numerical allocations after September 15, 2025, and won’t approve any such H 2B petitions after October 1, 2025. The attestation can be accessible on the Kinds web page of the OFLC web site at: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor/forms.
PLEASE NOTE: The TFR requires employers with a licensed begin date which is 30 or extra days previous to the submission of their visa petition to USCIS to interact in extra recruitment of U.S. employees. Employers required to conduct extra recruitment should present OFLC with the case quantity for every short-term certification which can be utilized in help of a visa petition to USCIS concurrently with their placement of recent job orders with the State Workforce Company. Employers who should conduct this concurrent notification requirement are inspired to inform OFLC NPC by sending an e-mail to H2Bsupplementalvisas@dol.gov, and together with the phrases “H-2B TFR 2025 Recruitment” adopted by the distinctive TLC case quantity within the topic line of the e-mail.”
