Summer-season H-2B visa update: DOL moves to Group B

Pabian Law Summer-Season Clients,

I hope all is well.  Today, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) completed processing of the almost 35,000 Group A cases and moved on to Group B.  The DOL is currently on pace with last year’s processing times.

What this means:

• The DOL is 2 days behind last year’s processing times.  While it is good news that the processing times are consistent with last year’s, unless we see a drastic improvement in adjudication times, we still expect that employers with applications in Group E and later will see their workers unfortunately begin work after their petition start date.
  • Please note that last year, the DOL caught up after April 1^st start dates, resulting in most May start dates able to make their start dates.
  • Final H-2B petition approval by U.S. Citizen & Immigration Services (USCIS) is typically around 4-5 weeks after an application receives a Notice of Acceptance (NOA) from the DOL, assuming a USCIS petition can be filed right away after the DOL issues its Certification.
  • A chart of last year’s processing times from last year is below:
• April 1^st Start Dates
  • 
• Post-April 1^st Start Dates
  • 
• If you did not join live and/or did not already listen to it, we encourage you to watch to our recent Town Hall webinar, “Making Sense of the H-2B Visa Lottery and Demand.”  You can watch the recording online at https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/DqyyJwrc3LaML1WK49xnOEGBVeMAeM1Oir0YH2dosU2DbK5Ku8jWRWus7in-II9M.jKnX8H8H_1jBSxC1. Passcode: 10WCyW9%
  • The webinar outlines:
    • U.S. Department of Labor delays
    • This year’s cap relief
    • Recruiting strategies
• We finally have news about H-2B visa cap relief and the news is good for our summer-season clients!
  • If you have not already signed-up, please register for our client-only webinar this coming Thursday, February 5^th at 12pm EST.  You can register online at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/auOL7bcGT_a_82q8YYucZw. If you are unable to attend the webinar, I will email you the recording on Wednesday afternoon.
    • I strongly encourage you ALL to attend this webinar.  It is applicable to all Pabian Law H-2B visa clients, regardless of season.  Additionally, thanks to Friday’s great news, recruiting options are now available to many of you that were not available prior to this afternoon’s government announcement.  In short, this is a must-attend webinar for everyone to understand options and the current state of the H-2B visa program.
  • As you will hear on Thursday’s webinar, due to the high demand expected for summer-season supplemental visas, we expect that not all April 1^st lottery groups will be eligible for cap relief.
    • Based on past years, Groups C and D have been eligible but Group E was at risk of missing out.
    • This year, given the additional visas (27,736 vs. 19,000), we are hopeful that Group E and possibly even F could be eligible.
    • However, because cap relief is so different this year from past years, it is very difficult to estimate with any certainty.
    • This and more will be discussed on Thursday’s webinar.
• Please remember that in-country recruiting is the best option whenever possible, as it allows you to sidestep cap concerns entirely and avoids the uncertainty and risks associated with supplemental cap petitions (e.g., the “irreparable harm” standard and audits).

Please let us know if you have any questions.  We will continue to update you as the DOL proceeds to later Groups.

Thank you,

Keith and the Pabian Law Team