In a recent report, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has reached the cap for H-2B visas. This cap is specifically for the second half of the 2026 fiscal year.
What this means is that they are now going to reject any petitions with a requested employment start date between April 1 and October 1, 2026. This applies to all petitions received after March 10, 2026, so an individual’s petition would already have to be in the system in order to qualify.
Supplemental visas
That being said, there are some supplemental visas that have been approved. The Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) indicated that they would accept up to 64,716 additional visas that can be used in 2026.
However, only certain businesses will qualify for these visas. The government needs to see that the business would suffer irreparable harm if it was not able to employ all of the requested workers on H-2B visas.
In other words, even though the cap has been met, if a business can demonstrate a significant amount of harm, the government can use these supplemental visas to make up the difference and give those employers more stability by potentially approving employment visas for immigrants.
The immigration process
For both employers and potential employees, it is very important to understand exactly how the visa process works and what visa is necessary in a given situation – the H-2B is just one potential visa to consider. It can help to work with an experienced attorney to consider these details, keep an eye on cap limits and explore immigration options.