US Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued a temporary final rule to increase the cap for H-2B nonimmigrant visas by up to 64,716 additional visas for fiscal year 2024.
Of the additional visas available, 44,716 are available only for returning workers, that is, workers who received an H-2B visa or were otherwise granted H-2B status in one of the last three fiscal years. About a third (20,000) of the supplemental visas will be reserved for nationals of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica; they are exempt from the returning worker returning worker requirement, according to the USCIS.
The supplemental visas will be distributed in several allocations, including two separate allocations for the second half of FY 2024. To qualify for the additional 64,716 visas, petitions must be received at the Texas Service Center by Sept. 16, 2024.
Long-term care industry advocates have suggested that foreign nurses could be a solution to the sector’s workforce crisis, but US immigration policies make it difficult to recruit a sufficient number of immigrants, who already comprise 20% of registered nurses nd 15% of licensed practical nurses working in nursing homes, according to LeadingAge.
A limited number of long-term care providers use this particular program, but the increase to the caps will be welcome news for those that do use it, LeadingAge said in an online post.
According to USCIS, the temporary final rule is in line with the White House’s immigration policy announced late last year, intended to increase security at the Southwest border as well as expand legal pathways for immigration.
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