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On Friday, June 5, 2015, the United States government office that issues visas for the H-2B program (US Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS) announced that it would reopen the application process for H-2B visas for work beginning before September 30 of this year. Back in April, USCIS had announced that the cap of 66,000 visas for the fiscal year, which runs from October 1 through September 30 each year, had already been met. After a review, USCIS found that the cap of 66,000 had not been met after all, and USCIS therefore decided to reopen the application process to employers with H-2B certification.

What does this announcement mean for me as a worker? Normally, once the cap on the number of visas per fiscal year has been met, there are no new job offers for that period. In this case, there are still visas available, meaning that there are still jobs in the U.S. with H-2B visas that begin between now and the end of September.

UPDATE: On Monday, June 15th, the U.S. government announced that it had received enough H-2B visa petitions from employers to reach the cap. As of June 11th the application period for H-2B employers is once again closed. U.S. Consulates in Mexico will continue to process workers' applications for visas that have already been approved.

But watch out! The announcement does not guarantee that a job offer you receive in the coming weeks is a real offer, since recruiters that have knowledge of the announcement could use this information to attempt to commit fraud. The announcement only tells you that a job offer might be real.

Before accepting any offers, review our recommendations for avoiding fraud in recruitment! Don’t be taken in by unscrupulous recruiters!

Have you worked in the United States with an H-2B, H-2A or J-1 visa? Or have you experienced fraud in the labor recruitment process? Share a comment about your employer or recruiter and help to build the movement for informed labor migration!