USCIS Announces the Suspension of Premium Processing for H-2B Supplemental Cap Applications

The H-2B program allows U.S. employers or U.S. agents who meet specific regulatory requirements to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary nonagricultural jobs.  This visa is only available for work that is temporary in nature. Which means that to qualify as a H-2B job, the employment needs to be one of: a recurring seasonal need; intermittent need; peak-load need; and one-time occurrence. Examples of a H-2B job can be an amusement park program coordinator for the summer, seasonal housekeeper, seasonal cook, or even Olympic House chef. For more information about the H-2 visas, please click here.

Upon publishing the rule in the Federal Register, petitioners requesting additional H-2B workers under the upcoming rule must file their petitions at the California Service Center. Under standard processes, H-2B petitions are filed at one of two USCIS service centers, generally based on the state in which the petitioner’s primary office is located. All filings under the supplemental allocations will now be centralized at the California Service Center in order to manage the additional workload from the supplemental allocations provided by this rule.

Also immediately upon the publication of the rule, USCIS is temporarily suspending the availability of premium processing for H-2B supplemental cap petitions. Premium processing will resume on January 3, 2023. Petitioners filing H-2B supplemental cap petitions will be eligible to upgrade to premium processing by filing Form I-907 once premium processing resumes on Jan. 3, 2023.