US hits H-2B visa regular cap for FY25 second half, extra spots still open

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reached the cap for H-2B work visas for the second half of the 2025 financial year. March 5, 2025, was the last day for accepting new petitions for jobs starting between April 1 and September 30, 2025.

 

“March 5, 2025, was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date on or after April 1, 2025, and before October 1, 2025,” said USCIS on Wednesday.

 

Any petitions received after that date for jobs in this timeframe will be rejected.

 

What is the H-2B visa?

 

The H-2B programme allows US employers to bring in foreign workers for temporary non-agricultural jobs, such as hospitality, construction, and landscaping. The cap is set by Congress at 66,000 visas per year—split equally between the first and second halves of the financial year.

 

The maximum stay on this visa is three years. After that, the worker must leave the US and stay abroad for at least three months before applying again.

 

In December 2024, a new rule simplified this further by introducing a 60-day grace period. This means that if an H-2B worker finishes their job, they now have up to 60 days to find another eligible job or prepare to leave without affecting their immigration status.

 

Extra visas still available under the supplemental cap

 

While the regular cap has been met, extra H-2B visas are still available under a temporary rule issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL).

 

This temporary rule, announced in December 2024, allows for an additional 64,716 H-2B visas on top of the regular 66,000 for the 2025 financial year.

 

But these extra visas aren’t open to everyone. They are reserved for businesses facing “irreparable harm” if they cannot hire foreign workers. Employers must submit a special attestation form confirming this.

 

In January 2025, USCIS said it had already received enough petitions for the additional 20,716 visas reserved for returning workers with start dates on or before March 31, 2025.

 

India left out again

 

Indian nationals remain excluded from eligibility for the H-2B visa programme. This follows the DHS’s updated list of eligible countries, which continues to include names like Australia, Brazil, Canada and Andorra—but not India.

 

So why are some countries left out?

 

According to USCIS, there are several reasons why a country may be excluded:

 

High visa denial or overstay rates  

Visa fraud or abuse  

Non-compliance with visa rules  

Concerns related to human trafficking  

 

“These issues, if present, can harm the US interests,” said USCIS.

 

The country list is reviewed each year by the DHS, but India has been absent from the list for several years now.