H-2B visa: frequently asked questions

It is the category for temporary non-agricultural work. It is commonly used in hospitality and tourism, landscaping and grounds maintenance, construction, food processing, amusement parks and fairs. As with the H-2A, the US employer always files the petition.

The statutory cap is 66,000 visas per fiscal year, split into two halves of 33,000: one for jobs starting in the first half of the fiscal year and one for the second. The cap is frequently exhausted, and in several years the Department of Homeland Security has authorised supplemental visas above it through specific announcements.

In three ways. The H-2A is agricultural and the H-2B is not. The H-2A has no cap and the H-2B is limited to 66,000. And the H-2A obliges the employer to provide housing and transport, which the H-2B does not impose on the same terms. The rest of the procedure, including the prior labour certification, is equivalent.

That the employer must fit its need into one of four forms: seasonal, peak-load, intermittent or one-time. What is assessed is the nature of the employer's need, not of the position. A permanent vacancy that is hard to fill does not qualify, however real the difficulty.

No. The H-2B requires no academic credentials. It may require specific experience or skills, where the employer included them in the approved labour certification and can evidence them.

As with the H-2A, the H-2B is restricted to nationals of countries the Department of Homeland Security designates on an annually valid list. Chile has appeared on it, but it is worth checking the current notice before starting, because the designation is renewed and can change from year to year.

It is granted for the period of the labour certification, normally up to a year, and can be extended to a cumulative maximum of three. After that the worker must leave the United States for an uninterrupted period before qualifying again, exactly as with the H-2A.

Not freely. The visa is tied to the employer and to the labour certification behind it. A change requires the new employer to obtain its own certification and file a new petition; working for a third party outside that framework puts the status at risk.