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Explore visasI-129Full guide

H-2BTemporary non-agricultural worker

For foreign workers coming to fill a temporary non-farm job, petitioned for by a U.S. employer or agent.

At a glance

How you apply
Your employer gets a temporary labor certification from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), or from the Guam Department of Labor for work on Guam, then files Form I-129 with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). From abroad, you then apply for an H-2B visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate, unless you do not need a visa
Checked Oct 18, 2026[1]
How long you can stay
Up to the period on the labor certification; extensions of up to 1 year at a time. After 3 years in total in H-2A or H-2B status, at least 60 days in a row outside the U.S. (USCIS's H-2B page also counts earlier time in other H or L classifications). Some seasonal, intermittent, 6-months-or-less-a-year and commuting workers are exempt from the 3-year limit
Checked Oct 18, 2026[1,2]
Annual cap
66,000 per fiscal year: 33,000 for workers starting October 1 to March 31 and 33,000 for workers starting April 1 to September 30. Some workers do not count, such as H-2B workers already in the U.S. who extend their stay
Checked Oct 18, 2026[3,4]
Can family come
Yes: spouse and unmarried children under 21 in H-4 status. They cannot work in the U.S. while in H-4
Checked Oct 18, 2026[1]
USCIS filing fee
Form I-129 for H-2B on paper: $1,080 with named workers or $580 with only unnamed workers, plus a $150 fraud prevention and detection fee and a $600 Asylum Program Fee. The I-129 fee and the Asylum Program Fee are lower for small employers and nonprofits
Checked Oct 18, 2026[5,6]

What H-2B is

The H-2B program lets U.S. employers or U.S. agents that meet specific regulatory requirements bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary nonagricultural jobs. The employer or agent files Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, for the worker.[1]

H-2B is a temporary (nonimmigrant) status. The statute covers someone who has a residence in a foreign country that they have no intention of abandoning and is coming temporarily to perform temporary service or labor, if unemployed people able to do the work cannot be found in the United States. It does not cover graduates of medical schools coming to work as members of the medical profession.[9]

What the employer must show

The employer that petitions for you has to show the following.

  • There are not enough U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified and available to do the temporary work, and employing H-2B workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.[1]
  • The employer's need for the work is temporary, whether or not the underlying job could be described as permanent. The need must end in the near, definable future: generally within one year or less, though in the case of a one-time event it could last up to 3 years.[1,2]
  • The petition includes a single valid temporary labor certification (TLC) from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), or from the Guam Department of Labor if the workers will be employed on Guam. The employer must apply for and receive the certification before filing with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).[1]
The four kinds of temporary need (8 CFR 214.2(h)(6)(ii)(B))
Kind of needWhat the employer must show
One-time occurrenceIt has not employed workers to do this work in the past and will not need them in the future; or its employment situation is otherwise permanent, but a temporary event of short duration created the need.
Seasonal needThe work is traditionally tied to a season of the year by an event or pattern and recurs. The employer must name the periods each year when it does not need the work; it is not seasonal if those periods are unpredictable, subject to change or a vacation period for its permanent employees. USCIS says this can include legal seasons, such as fishing seasons, and events tied to a season, such as the Christmas shopping season.
Peakload needIt regularly employs permanent workers to do the work at the place of employment, needs to supplement them temporarily because of a seasonal or short-term demand, and the temporary additions will not become part of its regular operation.
Intermittent needIt has not employed permanent or full-time workers to do the work, but occasionally or intermittently needs temporary workers for short periods.
Checked Oct 18, 2026[2,10]

How USCIS decides whether the need is temporary

The DOL certification is advisory: an approved one may support a finding of temporary need, but USCIS decides, and it may approve the petition under a different kind of need than the one DOL certified. The employer must submit a statement describing its temporary need in detail; USCIS says the quality and probative value of the information in that statement are what count, not merely how much information there is, and a skeletal petition will not meet the burden of proof.[2,10]

Except for a one-time occurrence, USCIS will evaluate whether the need is temporary, and may deny the petition, when the employer's H-2B petitions cover a continuous period longer than the maximum validity of one DOL certification, or when there is no gap or only a short gap between one petition's end date and the next one's start date. Having sought workers for the same or a similar position before does not, by itself, mean the need is not temporary; USCIS weighs all the evidence, which may include payroll records, monthly staffing data and the employer's filing history.[10]

What goes with the petition

  • The labor certification: with limited exceptions, the original approved certification. If DOL processed it in its FLAG system, a printed copy of the electronic one-page final determination counts as the original. If the original was already filed with an earlier I-129, a copy with an explanation that gives that petition's receipt number, if available.[1]
  • For named workers: evidence that each one met the minimum requirements on the certification, including any required education, training, experience or special requirements, when the certification was filed. For jobs driving a commercial vehicle where the certification requires English proficiency: evidence that each named worker is proficient in English, such as standardized test results or the employer's signed statement.[1]
  • A statement describing in detail the temporary situation or conditions that make it necessary to bring the workers, and whether the need is a one-time occurrence, seasonal, peakload or intermittent. For a seasonal, peakload or intermittent need, the statement says whether the situation is expected to recur.[2]
  • The names and addresses of all agents, facilitators, recruiters or similar employment services that the employer hired, or that work for it, to find or recruit the H-2B workers, whether they are inside or outside the United States.[11]

How the process works

  1. 1. Labor certification

    Your employer applies to DOL (or the Guam Department of Labor for work on Guam) for a temporary labor certification. DOL may issue it for a period of up to one year. A petition for Canadian musicians who will work within 50 miles of the U.S.-Canadian border for 30 days or less may skip this step.[1,2]

  2. 2. Petition to USCIS

    With the certification, the employer files Form I-129, no earlier than 6 months before the date of actual need. Generally one petition can cover all workers on one certification, with up to 25 named workers per petition, but named and unnamed workers cannot be on the same petition, and workers who are currently in the United States must be named.[1,2,11]

  3. 3. Visa

    After USCIS approves the petition, workers outside the United States apply for an H-2B visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate and then seek admission from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at a port of entry; workers who do not need a visa seek admission directly. Petition approval does not by itself make you eligible for the visa; the consular officer must be satisfied that you qualify. A consulate may issue the visa up to 90 days before your employment begins, but you can use it to seek admission only from 10 days before the approved period starts.[1,12,13]

  4. 4. Admission

    You are admitted for the period of the approved petition, plus up to 10 days before it begins to travel to the worksite and up to 30 days after it ends to depart or to seek an extension based on a new job offer (subject to the 3-year limit). Unless otherwise authorized, you may work only during the petition's validity period.[2]

The annual cap

Congress set the H-2B cap at 66,000 per fiscal year: 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the first half (October 1 to March 31) and 33,000 for the second half (April 1 to September 30). Numbers unused in the first half become available in the second half, but unused numbers do not carry over into the next fiscal year. The cap counts only the workers themselves, not their spouses or children.[3,4]

Generally not counted against the cap: H-2B workers already in the United States who extend their stay, change employers or change the terms and conditions of employment; and workers already counted in the same fiscal year, if the employer names them on the petition and states that they were counted. Petitions for fish roe processors, fish roe technicians and supervisors of fish roe processing, and for work in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) or Guam until December 31, 2029, are also exempt.[3]

USCIS gives out numbers in the order petitions are filed and announces the "final receipt date," the date by which it has received enough petitions. It may randomly select among the petitions received on that date, and if that date is one of the first five business days on which petitions can be filed, it randomly assigns all the numbers among the petitions received on those five days. Petitions not selected, or received after the final receipt date, are rejected and their fees returned; once the cap is reached, USCIS accepts only petitions for workers who are exempt from or not subject to the cap.[2,3,8]

Premium processing gives no special cap advantage: the random selection applies whether or not it was requested.[8]

How long you can stay

USCIS generally may grant H-2B for up to the period authorized on the labor certification. Extensions are in steps of up to 1 year, and each extension request needs a new, valid certification covering the requested time.[1]

After a total of 3 years in H-2A or H-2B status, you cannot be granted H-2B again until you have stayed outside the United States for an uninterrupted period of at least 60 days. Such an absence, at any time, starts a new 3-year period, and the employer must document it (for example with arrival and departure records, tax returns or records of employment abroad). Brief trips to the United States for business or pleasure during that time do not break the absence, but those days do not count toward the 60.[1,2]

Which time counts: the regulation and the Form I-129 instructions refer to time in H-2A or H-2B status, while USCIS's H-2B page also says that previous time in other H or L classifications counts toward total H-2B time. If you have held another H or L status, an immigration attorney can check how your time is counted.[1,2,11]

The 3-year limit does not apply if you did not reside continually in the United States and your U.S. employment was seasonal or intermittent, or added up to 6 months or less per year. It also does not apply if you live abroad and regularly commute to the United States for part-time work. The employer must document your relevant absences from the United States, for example with arrival and departure records, tax returns or records of employment abroad.[2]

Working, changing employers and extending

H-2B status lets you work only for the employer that petitioned for you. Under the portability rule, you may start new employment once an employer, including your current one, properly files a nonfrivolous H-2B petition for you that asks to extend or amend your stay, or on the requested start date if later. This applies if you were lawfully admitted in, or otherwise given, H-2B status; the petition was filed before your authorized stay expired; and you have not worked without authorization since your last admission. That permission ends automatically when the petition is decided or withdrawn.[2,14]

To extend your stay, the employer files Form I-129; H-2B workers cannot use Form I-539 for this. You must be physically present in the United States when the extension is filed. If your authorized stay expires while a timely filed extension is pending, you may keep working for the same employer for up to 240 days, but if USCIS denies the extension before then, that permission ends when you are notified of the denial decision.[2,14,15,16]

Your employer must notify USCIS within 2 workdays if you do not report for work within 5 workdays of the employment start date on the petition; if you leave without notice and do not report for 5 consecutive workdays without the employer's consent; if you are terminated before the work is finished; or if you finish the work more than 30 days before the petition's end date. USCIS says this is an employer obligation, not an indication of wrongdoing by the worker, and that a notification alone is not conclusive evidence of the worker's current status.[1]

Fees you cannot be charged and other protections

No job placement fee, fee or penalty for breach of contract, or other fee, penalty or compensation related to the H-2B job may be collected, at any time, from you or anyone acting on your behalf by the employer or its employees, agents, attorneys, facilitators, recruiters or similar employment services, or by any employer other than the petitioner. Prohibited fees can include wage deductions or withholding, and passing to you a cost that the law or regulations make the employer's responsibility counts as one. Being asked to repay costs that are your own responsibility and mainly for your benefit, such as government-required passport fees, is not prohibited. Nor does the rule stop an employer from letting you pay certain fees or expenses first and reimbursing you later, where the H-2B rules specifically permit that arrangement and it is carried out as they require.[1,2]

If a petition to extend your H-2B stay or change your status includes credible documents showing that your employer retaliated against you for a reasonable claim of a violation or potential violation of program requirements, or for another protected activity, USCIS may treat a resulting loss of H-2B status as due to "extraordinary circumstances," one of the conditions under which it may excuse a late extension filing. USCIS judges whether the claim was reasonable from the viewpoint of a reasonable person in the worker's position. Anyone, including H-2B workers, can report suspected H-2B fraud or abuse to USCIS through its online tip form.[1,2,15]

Spouse and children

Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 may come in H-4 status. They are not eligible to work in the United States while in H-4 status, but they may study.[1,13]

H-4 family members of H-2 workers must also have a residence abroad, and they generally get the same visa validity, period of admission or limit of stay as the worker. They extend their stay on Form I-539, unless the worker's petition is for only one worker and the form version provides for including them.[13,15]

Fees

Form G-1055, edition 10/07/26 (USCIS fees), and 22 CFR 22.1 (consular fee). Check the current schedule before paying.
ItemAmountWhen it applies
Form I-129 (H-2B), named workers (up to 25 per petition)$1,080 paper / $1,030 onlineRegular petitioner. Online filing is available only for cap-exempt petitions
Same, small employer or nonprofit$540 paper or onlineSmall employer: 25 or fewer full-time-equivalent U.S. employees, counting affiliates and subsidiaries. Nonprofit: a not-for-profit primary or secondary school, an institution of higher education, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization or a governmental research organization
Form I-129 (H-2B), unnamed workers only (no limit on number)$580 paper / $530 onlineRegular petitioner. Online filing is available only for cap-exempt petitions
Same, small employer or nonprofit$460 paper or onlineSame definitions as above
Fraud Prevention and Detection fee$150H-2B petitioners pay it in addition to the I-129 fee
Asylum Program Fee$600 / $300 / $0Regular petitioner / small employer / nonprofit; no online discount
Premium processing (Form I-907), optional$1,780Within 15 business days USCIS issues an approval, a denial, a request for evidence (RFE) or a notice of intent to deny (NOID); paid in addition to all other fees
H visa application fee (consulate)$205Per person, each visa application; a reciprocity issuance fee may also apply
Form I-539 for H-4 family in the U.S.$470 paper / $420 onlineSpouse or children extending or changing status in the U.S.
Checked Oct 18, 2026[5,6,7,17,18]

H-2B and a green card

High confidence Unlike H-1B workers, H-2 workers do not have "dual intent" (under which seeking a green card does not stand in the way of getting or keeping the temporary status), so a plan to seek permanent residence may be considered evidence that you intend to abandon your foreign residence. Steps such as an approved permanent labor certification, a filed immigrant petition or a green card application will not, standing alone, be the basis for USCIS to deny your employer's H-2 petition, but they are weighed with all other facts in deciding whether you are maintaining H-2 status. How this applies depends on your facts; an immigration attorney can apply the rules to your situation.[2,13]

Common mistakes

  • Asking for an employment start date that does not match the start date on the labor certification. USCIS may deny such a petition; this does not apply to amended petitions that substitute H-2B workers using the same certification.[2,11]
  • Marking a petition as exempt from the cap when it is not. If USCIS finds after the final receipt date that the petition is subject to the cap, it denies the petition and does not return or refund the filing fees.[2]

USCIS H-2B petition data

Official USCIS statistics

Official

Decision approval rate · FY2025

98.3%

Approved 15,920 · Denied 275

▼ 0.6 pts vs. same period a year earlier (FY2024: 98.9%)

H-2B · Decision approval rate
0%25%50%75%100%2017201920212023202598.3%
H-2B · Approved / Denied
ApprovedDenied
010k20k20172019202120232025

Approved ÷ (approved + denied) in the same period. Pending cases are not counted. Decisions in a quarter can come from petitions filed earlier, so this is the share of decisions that were approvals — not the chance that a petition filed today will be approved.

Official

Source: Nonimmigrant Worker Petitions by Case Status and Request for Evidence (RFE) (Fiscal Year 2024, Quarter 4) · Published Dec 16, 2024 · Retrieved Sep 27, 2026

Source: Nonimmigrant Worker Petitions by Case Status and Request for Evidence (RFE) (Fiscal Year 2025, Quarter 4) · Published Mar 24, 2026 · Retrieved Sep 27, 2026

Processing time (Form I-129, H-2B)

This covers USCIS processing of the petition only. Consular appointment waits are set by each embassy or consulate.

USCIS published processing time

Official

Median from USCIS's quarterly report

  • I-129 · FY2026 Q3 · all offices9.5 months

    All I-129 categories combined; the report does not split I-129 by category.

Half of the cases USCIS completed in that quarter took this long or less, from receipt to decision. Half took longer. The report does not say whether premium-processing cases are included. It is a different measure from the processing-times tool, so the two are not compared.

For the current figure for your form and office, check USCIS directly: USCIS processing times

Official

Source: All USCIS Application and Petition Form Types (Fiscal Year 2026, Quarter 3) · Retrieved Sep 27, 2026

Recent policy changes

  • January 17, 2025: new H-2 regulations took effect. USCIS can deny H-2B petitions filed on or after that date if the employer or its predecessor was found to have committed certain serious labor law violations or otherwise violated H-2A or H-2B program requirements, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations no longer require USCIS to consider whether the worker's country is on a designated eligible-country list.[1]
  • June 15, 2026: following the Department of State's increased screening of applicants seeking to drive commercial motor vehicles, and the Department of Labor's updated guidance effective that day, USCIS will generally accept visas issued after June 15, 2026, for jobs that require driving a commercial motor vehicle, as proof of English proficiency.[1]

Recent policy changes

Official

Updates

Ask WELIVEINUSA Visa

Ask WELIVEINUSA Visa

Answers come from our sourced database and your own timeline, sorted into fact, public data, inference and unknown. No AI model is used in this version, so questions outside what we cover get an honest "not covered".

Questions people ask

Can I apply for H-2B on my own?

Not without an employer. A U.S. employer, a U.S. agent, or a foreign employer filing through a U.S. agent must file the petition for you; a foreign employer cannot petition directly. After USCIS approves it, if you are outside the United States you apply for the visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate, unless you do not need one.[1,2]

The job itself is year-round. Can it still be H-2B?

What counts is whether the employer's need for the work is temporary, whether or not the underlying job could be described as permanent. A worker coming to fill a position of permanent or indefinite duration cannot be classified H-2B; for example, the State Department says a cook coming to train other cooks or organize a kitchen may qualify, but a cook coming to take a permanent job may not. Whether a need is temporary depends on the facts; an immigration attorney can apply the rules to your case.[2,13]

What happens when the cap is reached?

High confidence USCIS then rejects cap-subject petitions received after the final receipt date and accepts only petitions for workers who are exempt from or not subject to the cap. Because each half of the fiscal year has its own 33,000 numbers, reaching the first-half cap closes cap-subject filings for start dates before April 1, while jobs starting April 1 to September 30 draw on the second-half numbers.[1,2,3]

Can a recruiter charge me a fee for the job?

No fee, penalty or other compensation related to the H-2B job may be collected from you by the employer, its agents, recruiters or similar services, at any time. For petitions filed on or after January 17, 2025, if USCIS finds that this happened, it denies or revokes the petition unless the employer proves, by clear and convincing evidence, a limited set of conditions that include fully reimbursing every affected worker (or, only if a worker cannot be located or has died, their designee). USCIS then also denies H-2A and H-2B petitions from that employer, or its successor, for 1 year, and for 3 more years after that unless every affected worker (or designee, as appropriate) has been reimbursed in full.[1,2]

What if my employer dismisses me before the job ends?

If the employer that got you H-2B status dismisses you before your authorized stay ends, it must pay the reasonable cost of your return transportation to your last place of foreign residence; this does not apply if you quit on your own, and if you believe the employer has not complied, you can tell the USCIS service center that decided the petition in writing. After the job ends, you and your family are not considered out of status, and do not accrue unlawful presence, solely because the employment stopped, for 60 consecutive days or until your authorized stay ends, whichever is shorter (once per authorized stay). During that time you may work only as otherwise authorized, and you may apply to extend your stay or change status if otherwise eligible.[2,13]

Related categories

Content last reviewed: Oct 18, 2026 · General information, not legal advice.

Sources

  1. 1.H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers - USCISUSCIS · Agency page · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  2. 2.8 CFR 214.2(h) - Temporary employees (H-1B)eCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  3. 3.Cap Count for H-2B Nonimmigrants - USCISUSCIS · Agency page · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  4. 4.8 U.S.C. 1184 (INA 214) - Admission of nonimmigrantsU.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Law Revision Counsel · Statute · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  5. 5.Fee Schedule (Form G-1055) - USCISUSCIS · Form / instructions · Checked Oct 12, 2026
  6. 6.8 CFR 106.2 - USCIS feeseCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  7. 7.8 CFR 106.4 - Premium processing serviceeCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  8. 8.How Do I Request Premium Processing? - USCISUSCIS · Agency page · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  9. 9.8 U.S.C. 1101 (INA 101) - Definitions, incl. 101(a)(15)(E), (H), (L), 101(a)(44), 101(a)(45)U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Law Revision Counsel · Statute · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  10. 10.Guidance on “Temporary Need” in H-2B Petitions - USCISUSCIS · Agency page · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  11. 11.Instructions for Form I-129 (edition 09/09/26)USCIS · Form / instructions · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  12. 12.22 CFR 41.53eCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  13. 13.9 FAM 402.10 TEMPORARY WORKERS AND TRAINEES - H VISASU.S. Department of State (Foreign Affairs Manual) · USCIS Policy Manual · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  14. 14.8 CFR 274a.12 - Classes of aliens authorized to accept employmenteCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  15. 15.8 CFR 214.1 - Requirements for admission, extension, and maintenance of statuseCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  16. 16.I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status - USCISUSCIS · Form / instructions · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  17. 17.8 CFR 106.1 - Fee requirements (definitions)eCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Oct 12, 2026
  18. 18.22 CFR 22.1 - Schedule of fees for consular services (Department of State)eCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026