More than half of the 33,000 H-2B visas granted to temporary workers during the first half of the 2009 fiscal year have already been snatched up, according to a "cap count" report released last week by the United States Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) .
More than 17,000 visas have been filled even though the fiscal year doesn’t begin until Oct. 1. Last year, the first-half cap was met on Sept. 27. USCIS normally begins receiving H-2B petitions in June or July from employers with start dates in October, the report said.
Congress caps the number of H-2B visas to 66,000 per year, with half designated for the first half of the fiscal year (October through March) and half reserved for April through September. During fiscal years 2005, 2006 and 2007, more H-2B visas were granted thanks to the returning-worker exemption, which allowed repeat workers not to count agains the cap of 66,000.
Last fall, Congress failed to pass that provision for fiscal year 2008 and has not yet done so for fiscal year 2009, as the USCIS noted in its report.