The FY 2016 quota for H-2B non-immigrants was reached on May 12, 2016, USCIS has announced.
USCIS will reject any new H-2B petitions that request any employment start date before October 1, 2016 and were received after May 12, 2016, but will continue to accept H-2B petitions that are exempt from the cap. This includes petitions for H-2B “returning workers” – those who were counted against the cap in FY 2013, 2014 or 2015 – as well as extensions of stay and changes of employer, among others. The agency will also continue to accept petitions for H-2B employment in FY 2017, which begins on October 1, 2016.
The H-2B cap for each fiscal year is 66,000, though USCIS accepts filings in excess of this amount to account for petition withdrawals, revocations and denials, as well as cases in which employers ultimately employ fewer H-2B workers than requested in their petitions.