Reuters. – The US government said Thursday it will grant an additional 20,000 H-2B visas for the first half of the fiscal year, in an effort to ease the country’s labor shortage.
The Departments of Homeland Security and Labor said in a statement that the visas are intended to help US employers who face irreparable harm if they cannot obtain additional workers by March 31, 2022.
“We are providing employers with the resources and support they need to keep their businesses going while expanding legal pathways to the United States,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mallorcas said.
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The Department of Homeland Security said additional visas will become available to employers on January 28, 2022, adding that it comes at a time of record job growth and shrinking workforce participation.
The department said 13,500 of the visas are available to returning workers who have obtained an H-2B visa or obtained H-2B status within one of the past three fiscal years. The remaining 6,500 are for people from Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
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