On Monday, March 21, 2016, USCIS announced that it has received a sufficient number of H-2B petitions to reach the congressionally mandated cap (33,000) for the first half of FY 2016. March 15, 2016 is now the “final receipt date” for cap-subject H-2B worker requesting employment start dates before April 1, 2016. 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 first half of FY2016.
USCIS will reject new H-2B petitions that were received after March 15, 2016 and that request an employment start date before April 1, 2016, but there are some exceptions!
The exceptions are listed below: