Thousands of seasonal jobs have been left unfilled when the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced the reaching of the second-half quota of 33,000 H-2B visas, as soon as March 23. The Congress allots 66,000 H-2B visas every year, and these are divided into two installments, the first from October until April, and the second from April till September. All those who wanted to hire seasonal workers prior to October 1 of this year should have filed a petition in that sense before March 16, which was the final receipt date for such petitions. Any petitions received by the USCIS later than March 16 were to be rejected.



In this process of hiring seasonal foreign lawyers, the companies are represented by immigration law firms. The lawyers specializing in this field claim that there are two major issues which led to many seasonal jobs being left unfilled. The first refers to the limitations of H-2B visas and the second is represented by the delays that this requested governmental process has caused. High profile attorneys claim that the process is often hindered by the adjudication delays which occur because of the Labor Department. The six months prior to the start date that USCIS offers for filing petition would seem more than enough to most people, but filing with the USCIS is only allowed after receipt of a Labor Certification from the Labor Department in the employer’s area. With the Labor Department a petition can only be filed within four months before the anticipated start. The Labor Department has its own regulations, which state that no adjudication should last longer than two months. However, they have manage to delay the adjudication process with over a month, which was more than enough to prevent lawyers from filing with the USCIS for their clients’ H-2B visas before the second-half quota was reached.

In order to meet their clients’ need for workforce after the H-2B visas were no longer an option because the 33,000 quota had been reached, attorneys were faced with struggle to search for immigrants who had worked in the United States previously on H-2B visas. As these people were not affected by the set cap of 33,000 legal immigrant workers, they seemed the best option to fill the thousands of seasonal jobs left unfilled, that would prevent businesses such as restaurants, resorts or landscaping companies from running. Such workers belong to another category of visas, the H2R, that of returning workers. Legal immigrants who qualify under the H2R visa category are those workers who have been issues an H-2B visa no more than three fiscal years ago. In such cases, the annual limit of the current fiscal year does not apply for the applicant. A frenetic search for H2R workers has been launched, but lawyers are pessimistic about its results and fear the collapse of many American companies should additional visas not be allocated soon.

Another option for business owner may be the J1 visa applicants, who wish to work and travel in the United States. However, J1 is not reliable, as it’s a short term visa (three or four months) and not all visa categories allow the exchange visitors to engage in any type of employment.

The conclusion is that the safest way to insure that your business is covered is to start planning early and get your petition with the Labor Department on time.