Green Card & Visa News

Did you know that under the following circumstances the H2B visa for the United States may be used for both Skilled and Unskilled work?

1. An American employer, to handle the work load spikes of the peak months may choose to hire temporary staff. For that they can hire people using the option of the H2B visas.
2. Also in case there is a one time occurrence situation for an employer in the United States, they may opt for the H2B visa.

The H2B visa is used for a number of works for the both the employers and the job seekers in the United States. Some of them may be stated as manufacturing, health care, landscaping, hospitality or resort services etc.

The SOS Act (Save Our Small Business) of 2005 had actually splitted the total 66,000 annually available visas into 2 halves. Starting the financial year 2010, the petition for the H2B visa might not be required to be filled at a date earlier than 120 days of the actual requirement of the said visa.

The number limitations set by the Congress are as follows:

The total 66000 available visas would be divided in two halves which makes it 33000 for each half. The first lot of these 33000 visas would be made available to the workers starting from October 1^st till March 31^st, which is essentially supposed to be the first half of the fiscal year.

The next lot of the 33000 available visas would again be allocated to workers in the second half of the fiscal year. And the period for the same has been defined to be starting from the 1^st of April till the 30^th of September.

Now there could be a lot of people who have already entered in to the United States and are staying here. Also there is a chance that they also had to get the period of stay enhanced. But such instances would not be counted against the 33000 for the half. It’s only the new applications, which would be counted against the 33000 half yearly quota of the H2B visas. As per the announcements made from the USCIS, the latest update received on the H2B visa status looks extremely good. Against the cap of 33000 for the first half of the fiscal year 2010 only 11196 visas have been approved till date. Thus that would mean you have all the chance to apply for one for yourself.