THE LIMIT FOR MORE RETURNING WORKER H-2B VISAS HAS BEEN HIT FOR THE BEGINNING PART OF FY 2025

Introduction 

In a development that is shaking the US immigration and labor market, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that they have hit the limit for the 19,000 additional H-2B visas for returning workers for the first half of Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. 

The final day USCIS would accept petitions for these extra visas was April 18, 2025, and they were going to be placed under a unique Temporary Final Rule (TFR) for FY 2025. These highly sought-after work permits were for work starting between April 1st and May 14th, 2025, and were only for foreign nationals who had already been in H-2B status in the past three fiscal years.  

Employers are in trouble! 

This suspension of the H-2B returning worker allocation is ill-timed given that already there is a shortage of labor in industries that depend heavily on temporary and seasonal foreign workers—like landscaping, hospitality, tourism, and seafood processing. For most American employers, this suspension news is a bitter pill, one that is likely to affect their ability to do business during the peak spring and early summer seasons. 

What does this mean for applicants and employers? 

The rapid filling of the cap reflects how pressing the need is for holiday workers, especially as the US economy is gearing up for its busiest hiring season. Employers who were unable to complete applications on or before the April 18 deadline are now rushing to do something else, and some can expect delays of months or more in filling positions. 

For the H-2B workers who did not get picked to return, they will simply have to wait for the next time to apply for visas to come along—the uncertain and competitive atmosphere. 

Final words! 

The H-2B visa program permits foreign workers to visit the United States to work in non-agricultural jobs temporarily for US employers, yet Congress strictly limits the number of visas. The regular limit in FY 2025 was 66,000, yet they added visas—like the 19,000 returning worker visas—by temporary authorizations in compact agreements between DOL and DHS. 

With summer looming on the horizon, expectations are high: Will more visa slots become available? Will Congress pass a bill to raise the cap for good? And how will small business firms that depend on backflowing workers manage with this shortfall? 

Tune in to our platforms as we follow developments in this developing immigration and jobs saga!