Immigrant Daily

Meaning of ‘Temporary’ in New H-2B Regulations

The USCIS proposes to revise the regulation governing H-2B visas. The new regulation would provide that employment be of a temporary nature when the employer needs a worker for a limited period of time. The employer must establish that the need for the employee will end in the near definable future. The proposed rule specifies a time frame for the duration of temporary work, which is generally one year or less but can be up to 3 years, but the service will focus on the employer’s need for the worker and whether that need is temporary. The proposed rule would make it even clearer than the current rule that the worker will not be considered temporary unless it is restricted to a limited period of time and the employer’s need for the employee will end in the near definable future.

The H-2B visa holders are permitted to come temporarily to the US to perform temporary services or labor if certain conditions are met. Temporary job is defined as any job in which the petitioner’s need for the duties to be performed by employer is temporary. The employer’s need must be a year or less though there maybe extraordinary circumstances where the temporary services or labor might last longer than one year.

Although current and proposed rules both indicate that temporary work ordinarily would last one year or less the proposed rule differs slightly from the current rule in two respects. First, the current rule specifies that the duration will exceed one year only in extraordinary circumstances.
Second, the proposed rule sets an upper limit of three years in the case of a one-time event.

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Meaning of ‘Temporary’ In New H-2B Regulations