(UNITED STATES) — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it has reached the H-2B Visa Cap for the first supplemental allocation of fiscal year 2026 and ran a lottery after demand exceeded supply.
In a newsroom alert, the agency said the first tranche filled during the initial filing period, limiting which petitions could move forward for employers seeking early-2026 start dates.
USCIS framed the update as part of a phased “supplemental allocation” process under a temporary final rule issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor, designed to add time-limited visa numbers beyond the standard H-2B program cap.
The H-2B program allows U.S. employers to hire foreign nationals for temporary, nonagricultural jobs when employers say they cannot find enough qualified U.S. workers, and it is widely used by seasonal industries.
Typical sectors that rely on H-2B hiring include hospitality, landscaping, construction, seafood processing, tourism and resort work, among other seasonal businesses.
By statute, the program generally makes 66,000 visas available each fiscal year, with 33,000 set aside for the first half and 33,000 for the second half, creating recurring pressure around filing windows and start-date timing.
DHS can authorize additional visas beyond that statutory level through a temporary increase, and DHS and DOL have tied those extra numbers to conditions that employers must meet, including attestations about harm if they cannot secure workers.
USCIS described the first FY 2026 supplemental allotment as limited to returning workers, a category the agency and DHS use to narrow eligibility during certain releases when the government anticipates demand will rapidly outstrip supply.
“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services received enough petitions to reach the cap for the additional 18,490 H-2B visas made available for the first allocation of returning workers of fiscal year 2026 with start dates from Jan. 1 to March 31, 2026, under the H-2B supplemental cap temporary final rule (FY 2026 TFR),” USCIS said in its Feb. 13 notice.
USCIS also confirmed it used a computer-generated random selection process because more petitions arrived than available visa numbers during the initial filing window.
“On Feb. 13, USCIS conducted this random selection process [lottery] for petitions received on the first five business days of filing (Feb. 2 through Feb. 6, 2026) and began premium processing services afterward,” the agency said.
A lottery in an employment visa program is a signal to employers that filing early does not guarantee selection when the agency receives more petitions than the relevant cap can accommodate.
For businesses seeking H-2B workers for near-term start dates, the cap-reached announcement can translate into delayed staffing plans, uncertainty over contract commitments, and a need to consider later windows if initial filings do not make it through random selection.
USCIS said it would reject and return cap-subject petitions that were not selected in the lottery, along with filing fees, under the process used when demand exceeds a capped supply.
The first supplemental tranche focused on returning workers, which USCIS and DHS generally define as people who have previously held H-2B status in recent fiscal years.
For the FY 2026 supplemental cycle, DHS authorized up to 64,716 additional H-2B visas beyond the statutory cap, using time-limited authority described in a temporary final rule.
DHS and DOL published that rule on Jan. 30, and it appeared in the Federal Register on Feb. 3, setting out the overall structure for releases across the fiscal year and the conditions employers must meet to access the extra numbers. The Federal Register entry is available at Temporary Final Rule for FY 2026 H-2B Supplemental Visas.
The rule framework ties the extra visas to an “irreparable harm” concept, which DHS described as requiring employers to attest they face permanent and severe financial loss without the additional workers.
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas addressed that standard in the rule’s determination, describing the intent of the supplemental visas as aimed at “…American businesses that are suffering or will suffer impending irreparable harm, i.e., those facing permanent and severe financial loss, as attested by the employer.”
In practical terms, that condition adds a higher-stakes layer for employers that want access to supplemental numbers, because the process depends not only on filing within the relevant window but also on making required attestations and meeting program requirements.
The H-2B program itself remains employer-driven, tied to stated needs such as seasonality, peakload, or intermittent demand, and it operates in tandem with labor-related requirements that run through DOL and petition adjudication at USCIS.
The first FY 2026 supplemental allocation’s returning-worker limitation also narrows the pool of potential beneficiaries, which can shape planning for employers that rely on new-to-program workers.
USCIS has emphasized that when filings exceed available slots in a capped release, random selection is the mechanism that determines which petitions it accepts into processing, while the rest are returned.
That matters for employers trying to align start dates, travel, and onboarding, because H-2B plans can hinge on whether a petition is receipted and cleared for processing early enough to support downstream steps.
With the first supplemental tranche now filled, attention shifts to later releases expected under the FY 2026 framework, where eligibility and timing can differ by start-date period.
DHS has described the FY 2026 supplemental approach as phased, an effort to allocate additional visas across different seasonal demand windows rather than opening all supplemental numbers at once.
Under the figures outlined for the remaining supplemental tranches, the second allocation provides 27,736 visas for start dates April 1–April 30, 2026, and it remains limited to returning workers.
A third allocation provides 18,490 visas for start dates May 1–September 30, 2026, and it opens eligibility to all workers, removing the returning-worker requirement for that tranche.
USCIS has told employers to monitor its announcements closely because each allocation operates on specific filing windows, and petitions filed outside those windows, or after an allocation reaches its limit, can be rejected.
The agency’s cap updates and alerts are typically published through its newsroom, including the Feb. 13 alert on the first allocation, available at USCIS Newsroom alert.
For employers, the shift from one tranche to the next can change both the odds and the strategy, because a returning-worker-only release may favor businesses with repeat seasonal staff while a broader tranche can expand competition for limited numbers.
Lottery risk also becomes part of workforce planning, because even prompt filings can face random selection when intake surges in the first days of a window.
For Indian workers and Indian applicants, the cap-reached announcement can add urgency to coordination with sponsoring employers, especially for those aiming for near-term seasonal roles.
DHS has said India is among the eligible countries for H-2B participation, and the FY 2026 first-tranche returning-worker focus meant Indian applicants needed to meet the returning-worker definition to take part in that specific supplemental pool.
The first tranche operated as a general pool for eligible nationalities, DHS said, rather than using a dedicated country-specific set-aside for Western Hemisphere countries in that initial release.
Even when a worker qualifies, the timing and uncertainty created by a lottery can complicate travel planning and consular scheduling, which often depends on how quickly an employer receives petition processing milestones and communicates next steps.
For U.S. employers, the cap reaching its limit can force a recalibration of staffing timelines, including whether to pursue later allocations, adjust start dates within allowable windows, or build contingency plans for peak season contracts.
Businesses in landscaping, hospitality, tourism and other seasonal sectors often recruit and file well in advance, and the compressed nature of filing windows for supplemental tranches can intensify the scramble.
Employers also face coordination pressure across agencies, because the supplemental H-2B process ties together labor-related steps and USCIS petition intake, and a missed window can effectively push the hiring plan into a later tranche or out of the season.
USCIS has separately described the FY 2026 temporary increase and related program information on its employment pages, including updates tied to the supplemental H-2B cap framework, at Temporary increase in H-2B nonimmigrant visas for FY 2026.
The “irreparable harm” standard under the temporary final rule also shapes employer decision-making, because supplemental access is framed around a heightened claim of financial loss rather than routine seasonal demand alone.
That standard can influence how employers prepare and document their need for workers, since DHS has connected the supplemental authority to the idea of preventing permanent and severe financial loss.
At the same time, the returning-worker concept remains a central gate in some tranches, narrowing eligibility to people with prior H-2B status in specified recent fiscal years and favoring repeat participation.
As USCIS moves through the remainder of FY 2026 supplemental releases, the timing of announcements will remain crucial, because it determines when employers can file, how quickly caps may fill, and whether the agency must again use a lottery to manage oversubscription.
Secretary Mayorkas’ language in the rule’s determination captured the administration’s rationale for the supplemental numbers, describing the target as “…American businesses that are suffering or will suffer impending irreparable harm, i.e., those facing permanent and severe financial loss, as attested by the employer.”
Uscis Hits H-2B Visa Cap for First Supplemental Allocation
USCIS has filled the first 18,490 supplemental H-2B visas for fiscal year 2026 via a random lottery. This allocation specifically targeted returning workers for early 2026 start dates. The move is part of a broader DHS initiative to provide nearly 65,000 extra visas this year to protect seasonal businesses from severe financial loss. Rejected petitions and fees will be returned to employers.
