The United States opened 35,000 H-2B work visas for foreigners

The US government opened 35,000 visas for temporary non-agricultural workers due to the shortage of labor that exists in the northern country.

This was announced in a statement by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor of the release of the 35,000 H-2B type work visas for the second fiscal year of 2022.

According to the statement, additional visas are for U.S. employers seeking additional employees with dates of employment on or after April 1, 2022 and until September 30, 2022.

Alejandro N. Mayorkas announced that due to the high demand for labor, it was thought to offer additional visas because “they will help support American companies and expand legal avenues for workers seeking to come to the United States,” said the Secretary of Homeland Security.

He also assured that they will maintain “greater scrutiny of those employers who have a history of failing to meet obligations to their workers and the H-2B program.”

The H-2B visa was created for workers without experience, academic degrees, or professional degrees to be able to work in any of these jobs, which have been among the most requested in the past:

- Gardening

- Maids and housekeeping.

- Construction

- Hospitality

- Forestry worker

- Mesero

- Factory worker

- Animal caretaker

- Workers in recreation centers

- Restaurant cooks

- Meseros

It should also be clarified that of the 35,000, 23,500 will be granted to returning workers who received an H-2B visa or H-2B status otherwise, during one of the last three fiscal years.

While the rest, 11,500, will be destined for citizens of Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Although, it should be noted that the same statement clarifies that employment must be of a temporary nature “for a limited period of time, such as a one-time occurrence, a seasonal need or an intermittent necessity”.

Employers seeking H-2B workers must assess the U.S. labor market, certify in their petitions that there are not enough capable, willing, qualified and available American workers to perform the temporary work for which they are seeking a potential foreign worker.

They also clarify that they must ensure that the hiring of H-2B workers should not harm American workers in the sense that they adversely affect the wages and conditions of employment to nationals who were similarly hired.

Finally, the US government does not issue a call as such, but the application must be filled out on another page. The period is a maximum of three years and after the lapse they must leave the country for a period of three months uninterrupted. Once this period is over, you will be able to reapply.

Among the countries that can apply for the visa are: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom and Uruguay.

After the issuance of these work permits for foreigners was canceled with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government issued an additional 20,000 H-2B visas in April 2021.

KEEP READING: