The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Labor will supplement the H-2B cap with 20,000 additional temporary nonagricultural worker visas for fiscal year 2022. These visas are intended for employers seeking to hire before March 31, 2022.
In a Dec. 20 DHS press release, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the expansion will protect businesses and create more legal residency opportunities for workers from the Northern Triangle countries and Haiti.
“At a time of record job growth, additional H-2B visas will help to fuel our Nation’s historic economic recovery,” Mayorkas said in the release. “In the coming months, DHS will seek to implement policies that will make the H-2B program even more responsive to the needs of our economy, while protecting the rights of both U.S. and noncitizen workers.”
The addition will provide 13,500 visas to workers who have had H-2B status during at least one of the last three fiscal years, the release said. The remaining 6,500 visas are reserved for workers coming from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Haiti.
This is the first time the federal government has provided additional H-2B visas in the first half of a fiscal year, the release said. The Wall Street Journal reports the 20,000 visas are in addition to the standard 33,000 visas already made available for seasonal workers. This brings the total number of visas available to seasonal workers to 53,000 – a 60% increase.
While The Wall Street Journal reports the Biden Administration's decision to release these additional visas has run contrary to the wishes of labor unions, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) reported that the immigrant population hit an all-time high of 46.2 million in November. CIS also found that the immigrant share of the U.S. population was 14.2%, the highest in 111 years, including both legal immigrants and those residing here illegally, a CIS press release said.
The H-2B visa program allows nonagricultural businesses to hire foreign workers to fill part-time or seasonal jobs, the DHS release said. Businesses must try to hire American labor and are permitted to use H-2B visas only if no domestic workers can be found.
