On Jan. 28, the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Labor released a temporary final rule that provides an additional 20,000 visas for the H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultural Worker program for the first half of fiscal year 2022 (Oct. 1, 2021-March 31, 2022).
Of the 20,000 additional visas provided in this rule, 13,500 will be available to returning H-2B workers who worked in the U.S. in at least one of the previous three fiscal years (fiscal years 2019, 2020 or 2021). The remaining 6,500 visas will be reserved initially for nationals from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. View a copy of the rule.
DHS and DOL were able to take this action because in December 2021, Congress provided the agencies with the authority to issue additional H-2B visas beyond the existing statutory cap of 66,000 visas annually, which is much less than existing demand.
NRCA is aware of strong demand within the roofing industry for additional H-2B visas and is pushing for more visas to be issued during the second half of fiscal year 2022 (April 1 to Sept. 30).
On Jan. 26, NRCA CEO Reid Ribble sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, pressing them to move forward with additional visas for the second half of fiscal year 2022 to help the roofing industry meet workforce needs during the busy spring and summer months.
