USCIS announced today that it reached the cap for the second half of Fiscal Year 2009 for the H-2B visa. This cap of 33,000 petitions was reached on January 7. New petitions for H-2B visas will no longer be accepted for the second half of FY 2009; potential applicants will have to request petitions for the first half of FY 2010.

The H-2B visa gives U.S. employers involved in industries with peak load, seasonal or temporary needs the capacity to utilize temporary nonimmigrant workers to fulfill their staffing needs. H-2B visa workers typically work in areas such as construction, farming, health care, landscaping and hospitality services. In 2005, the Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act was passed; this Act divided the visa category’s annual cap of 66,000 available visas into two halves. USCIS enables companies to submit these filings six months in advance of the staffing need.