H-2B Cap Count as of January 4, 2017

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has updated its count of H-2B filing for temporary non-agricultural visas (H-2Bs) for employment for the first and second halves of FY 2017.

As of January 4, 2017, for the First Half of the FY 2017 Fiscal Year, USCIS has receipted filings on behalf of 30,907 beneficiaries toward the 33,000 H-2B cap amount.  This count includes 23,257 approved and 7,650 pending petitions.  For the Second Half of the FY 2016 Fiscal Year, USCIS has not receipted any petitions yet.   SOURCE

There is a statutory numerical limit, or “cap,” on the total number of foreign nationals who may be issued an H-2B visa or otherwise granted H-2B status during a fiscal year (FY). Currently, Congress has set the H-2B cap at 66,000 per fiscal year, with 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the first half of the fiscal year (October 1 – March 31) and 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the second half of the fiscal year (April 1 – September 30). Any unused numbers from the first half of the fiscal year will be available for employers seeking to hire H-2B workers during the second half of the fiscal year. However, unused H-2B numbers from one fiscal year do not carry over into the next.