USCIS has closed the filing window for the first half of the next H-2B season. The agency confirmed it received enough petitions to meet the congressionally set cap for the first half of fiscal year 2027, covering seasonal jobs that start before April 1, 2027.
September 4, 2026 was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B petitions requesting an employment start date before April 1, 2027. USCIS will reject any new cap-subject petitions filed after that date requesting a start date in the first half of the fiscal year. The H-2B program lets employers temporarily hire foreign workers for non-agricultural seasonal, peak-load, or one-time jobs when qualified U.S. workers are not available.
Congress caps the program at 66,000 visas a year, split evenly between the first half of the fiscal year, October through March, and the second half, April through September. This year’s first-half cap filled somewhat slower than the identical cap did for fiscal year 2026, which closed on September 12, 2025.
Employers who missed the deadline for a start date before April 1, 2027 now have to wait for the second-half filing window or hope for a supplemental allocation. USCIS has not yet said whether supplemental H-2B visas will be made available for fiscal year 2027, as they were in prior years when demand outpaced the statutory cap. Current H-2B workers already in status are not affected by the cap closing, and petitions for workers who are exempt from the cap, such as returning workers previously counted in the same fiscal year, can still be filed.
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