USCIS announced that it has received a sufficient number of H-2B petitions to reach the congressionally mandated cap (33,000) for the second half of FY 2019. February 19, 2019 is now the “final receipt date” for cap-subject H-2B worker requesting employment start dates before October 1, 2019. The “final receipt date” is the date on which USCIS determined that it has received enough cap-subject petitions to reach the limit of 33,000 H-2B workers for the second half of FY2019, for a total of 66,000 for the year.
USCIS will reject new H-2B petitions that were received after February 19, 2019 and that request an employment start date before October 1, 2019, but there are some exceptions!
The exceptions are listed below: