U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is no
longer accepting petitions from U.S. employers seeking to hire temporary non-agricultural
worker under the one-time increase to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 H-2B cap
announced in July.
For the first time, in May,
Congress delegated its authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to
increase the number of temporary non agricultural work visas available to U.S.
employers through FY 2017.
After consulting with Secretary of labor Alexander Acosta,
then-Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly determined there were not enough
qualified and willing U.S. workers available to perform temporary non-agricultural
labor to satisfy the needs of some American business in FY 2017. Consequently,
additional H-2B visas were made available to American businesses that could
establish they would likely suffer irreparable harm if they could not hire all
the H-2B workers requested in their FY 2017 petitions. An additional 15,000
visas were made available under a final rule published in July. USCIS
previously met the FY 2017 cap for H-2B visas in March.
Following the filing deadline guidance included in July’s
final rule. USCIS has stopped accepting petitions and is rejecting any FY 2017
H-2B cap subject petitions received after Sept, 15. With the close of the
petition period on Sept. 15, USCIS has tabulated that it has received a total
request of 13,534 workers.
In its commitment to protect U.S. Workers, USCIS required petitioning
employers to attest, under penalty of perjury, that their business would likely
suffer irreparable harm if they could not hire all their requested H-2B workers
before the end of the fiscal year. Some employers were also required to conduct
a fresh round of recruitment efforts for U.S. workers before being allowed to
petition for additional foreign workers.
Petition that have been submitted but are not approved by
USCIS before Oct.1 will be denied, and any associated fees will not be
refunded.
USCIS will continue to accept FY 2017 H-2B petitions for
workers who are exempt from the congressionally mandated cap.
Additional information about how the supplement FY 2017
H-2B visas are being used, including information about the petitioning
employers, can be found on the One-Time Increase in H-2B Non immigrant Visas
for FY 2017 webpage.
The agency also continues to encourage the public to report
H-2B program fraud and abuse by emailingreporth2babuse@uscis.dhs.gov.
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