Nearly 65,000 H-2B Visas Released: What Employers Need to Know

The Department of Homeland Security has released an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary visas for non-agricultural workers. The additional visas will help employers in hospitality, tourism, landscaping, construction, seafood processing, and others that employ temporary seasonal workers.

Of the newly released visas, 44,716 are divided in three allocations (between Oct. 1, 2024, and Sept. 30, 2025) for returning workers only. The other 20,000 will be allotted to workers from Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras, regardless of whether those individuals are returning workers.

These additional H-2B visas are only for employers that can show they will suffer irreparable harm without the ability to employ the H-2B workers they are requesting. The employers will have to follow the full H-2B process: pass a labor market test and show that employing the H-2B workers they are requesting will not adversely affect the wages or working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. Any employers that have committed certain labor law violations in the H-2B program will be subject to additional scrutiny.

Jackson Lewis attorneys are available to assist employers in employing both H-2A farm and H-2B non-agricultural workers.