The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services offer visas to immigrant workers who are employed in seasonal and non-agricultural forms of employment. Known as the H2-B US visa, it is provided to nationals from particular nations designated by the Homeland Security Secretary, including Argentina, South Korea, the Ukraine and Croatia.
Immigrant employees who receive the H2-B US visa are allowed to live and work in the United States for up to as long as three years, after which they may be able to extend their stay for increments of one year, with permission. People who hold this class of visa can also ask for permission for their unmarried children below the age of 21 and their spouse to be admitted to the USA under an H2-4 non-immigrant visa, which allows them to live but not work in the country.
There is of cap of 66,000 H2-B US visas given out per annum, with 33,000 being allotted to individuals who are employed between the months of October and March, while the remaining 33,000 are issued to workers who are employed between the months of April and September (the first and second halves of the fiscal year). Any US visas that are not issued to individuals in the first six months of the fiscal year will then be made available to employers that wish to hire H2-B immigrant workers during the second half.
There is no “carry over” between years and once the cap for a year has been reached employers are forbidden from submitting any further H2-B visas.
