DHS Releases 35,000 Additional H-2B Visa

Washington, D.C. - The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released an additional 35,000 visas for H-2B workers. There are 23,500 visas available to returning H-2B workers who received a visa in the past three years. The remaining 11,500 visas, which are exempt from the returning worker requirement, are earmarked for Northern Triangle countries, including Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. 

The visas should be available once DHS publishes notice in the Federal Register, expect in mid-April. Workers could be in the U.S. by mi- May, if all goes well.

The returning worker visas will probably be distributed via a lottery among those employers who have made application.