másLabor Answers Your H-2B Questions
In our most recent H-2B Q&A webinar, we received many great questions from our guests! In case you missed it, below is a transcript of those questions and answers. Please contact us today if your question isn’t listed!
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Question: I am in group D, and I am planning on recruiting from Guatemala where I have staff who knows workers. Is this going to help me? It sounds like NCA is the overwhelming solution.
Answer: Yes, those visas will likely remain available.
Question: Can you provide the live link for cap tracker?
Question: Can workers visit home and reasonably return if they are currently on an extension? I believe in this case they need to get a visa at the consulate to enter again.
Answer: If workers are currently here on an I-797A resulting from a transfer or extension, only workers from Mexico can visit home. This is due to re-validation procedures that were established for only Mexico and Canada. If they are from any other country, they will have to attend a consular appointment and obtain a new visa before they can return.
Question: How can we get workers better suited to our industry, last year we had food service workers in our landscape service group. Needless to say, they were not prepared for that type of work and departed soon after arriving.
Answer: I would encourage you to set up Zoom or Skype interviews with any potential new workers, prior to them attending a consular appointment and obtaining a visa for your company.
Question: Did all of Group D come in under the cap last year? What time frame? We were Group C last year and got our guys about 3 weeks after our usual start time.
Answer: Yes, at MAS, all employers through group d were able to secure their returning workers through cap relief last year. The timing of their arrival will vary greatly depending upon your lottery group placement and when DOL takes action on your case. For group D, the likely time of arrival would be around mid-May. However, that is a very broad assumption based on historical processing data.
Question: My first time bringing in workers on H2B; is it possible to travel to Central America and interview people directly? (I'm used to traveling to 3rd world countries).
Answer: Yes, it is possible. However, it may be just as beneficial to do a zoom or skype interview with them.
Question: Also, is it possible to see the prior experiences of workers being selected? (like a resume)
Answer: Typically, a summary of work experience can be provided relative to your job order specifics. The availability of a resume will typically vary between workers and so cannot be guaranteed in all cases.
Question: Can approved petitions where there aren't all visas issued be recycled? I have one position with 3 approved workers, applied for 2, only 1 got the visa, the other one got rejected because of "insufficient ties" to home country. So, in theory I have 2 positions left. Those were for the pre-April 1 start date. Any chance of using those?
Answer: Yes, if you have full CIS approval, you can use all visa slots that were approved, even if one of the workers gets rejected.
Question: What would be the October strategy?
Answer: If they come October 1 and leave on your end date, they are exempt from the cap for 2025. So, no matter which group placement you receive in 2025, the workers can come back. The only time a cap exempt worker would not come back is if they chose not to. There are no guarantees in H-2B, and demand for October is continuing to increase. There is a lottery in October, but it is much smaller, and everyone has historically received group A and B and has been able to receive their workers. However, there is no way to predict what demand will look like this upcoming October, and you should be aware that there is a risk for workers to arrive late or not at all depending on demand.
Question: Based on historical data, when do you think the 20,000 NCA visas will be exhausted, we are in Group F, any chance?
Answer: All signs show that they won't be exhausted. They haven't been since the NCA allotment started a few years ago. If they are, it would likely be for later start dates. All employers through group G should have a high chance of securing workers from these countries.