The Ministry of Labor (DOL) reported that as of February 27, 2025, a total of 5,899 cases have been issued for the 2025 fiscal year (first half of the visa cap) on the required dates for the request from October 1, 2024 to March 31, 2024 until March 31, 2025.
The chart below shows the number of final decisions issued in Windows filings from July 2024 to February 2025, as well as the number of certified positions.
Filing window total case has been issued
Final decision
July 2024 2,492 44,907 August 2024 485 7,884 2024 221* 3,849 October 359 10,414 November 766* 16,988 December 2024 1,559* 26,165* 140* 140* 140* 140* 140* 140* ** 2025 – ** ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – ** – 2025 – ** – **”
*This shows the changes to the case between November and January and the number of workers reported as of February 13th.
** Cob As of February 27, six cases had been submitted and the requested positions were submitted to 83 workers, but no final or certified positions were found.
As of January 7, 2025, US Citizenship and Immigration Services had received sufficient petitions to reach the additional 20,716 H-2B visas made available to reinstate workers in the first half of 2025 on an opening date before March 31, 2025.
In the second half of the 2025 visa cap, Group A's DOL processing increased to 1,855, issued a final decision and issued a certified position for 26,279 workers. Group B has increased to a total of 773 people, issued a final decision and has now been accredited against 11,046 workers.
DOL is processing group C-G of applications received for required dates requested from April 1, 2025.
Background of the allocation group: The initial H-2B allocation group (i.e., Group A) always includes the number of H-2B applications that contain sufficient worker positions to reach the applicable numerical visa cap, even if the numerical limits of the Immigration and Nationality Act have subsequently changed. Additional allocation groups are assigned in ascending order for all remaining H-2B applications submitted in the first three-day filing window requesting the earliest start date of permitted work. Each H-2B allocation group after Group A (e.g. Group B, Group C, etc.) exceeds a total of 20,000 workers positions, or approximately 1,000 applications per group. More background on the origins of H-2B temporary labor certification programs and allocation groups can be found here.
This alert is provided by the BAL US Practice Group.
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