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From the Editor's Desk

With the advent of 2010, we have successfully completed the first year of our expedition. ExpressH2B team wishes you a bright and prosperous New Year 2010. We started our journey a year before with the promise to endow you with the latest H-2B “happenings of the month” and the changes in the world of Immigration and it is your continues support and trust that had helped us in keeping our promise. We thank you a lot for your support and trust and with this New Year we take up a initiatives to make visa processing unbelievably fast and fairly easy.

As the economy is moving back to normal, immigration experts believe that H-2B visas for fiscal year 2011 employment will go off relatively soon unlike fiscal year 2010.

The DHS has recently released a notice informing that under Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations, USCIS may only approve petitions for H-2B nonimmigrant status for nationals of countries that the Secretary of Homeland Security, has designated by notice published in the Federal Register. This notice announces that the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, has identifying 39 countries whose nationals are eligible to participate in the H–2B programs for the coming year.

This notice is effective January 18, 2010, and shall be without effect at the end of one year after January 18, 2010. A new development to report, 11 additional countries are now joining to the list of countries whose nationals are eligible to participate in the H-2B programs.

The nationals from the following countries are eligible to participate in the H–2A and H–2B visa programs for this year:

Argentina, Australia, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, The Netherlands, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay.

This notice does not affect the status of aliens who currently hold H–2A or H–2B nonimmigrant status.

If you are an employer who has questions regarding Labor Certification or need assistance with the H-2B filing, contact ExpressH2B. ExpressH2B attorneys would be happy to assist you.

To ensure you receive your Express H2B Newsletter, please add to your address book or safe list.

Get geared up for an exciting year ahead!

News Bulletin

H-2B for FY2010 Moves Closer to Exhaustion

USCIS has updated the count of H-2B visa petitions, received and counted towards the fiscal year 2010. As of January 12, 2010 USCIS has received approximately 39,088 petitions and out of these USCIS has approved 34,533 H-2B petitions.

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Featured Article

Filing the H-2B Petition? Read the H-2B Filing Tips First

The H-2B visa is one of the most sought after nonimmigrant visa categories. H-2B allows foreign nationals to enter into the U.S. to engage in nonagricultural employment which is seasonal, intermittent, peak load, or a one-time occurrence. Considering the current economy and the toughness in hiring of foreign nationals; employers should take dual care in filing the petition for their employees. We understand that delays in the visa processing can often greatly impact a business, and therefore we offer these H-2B filing suggestions with the hope to educate H-2B employers with the most efficient manner to submit the Form I-129 to USCIS.

Read Full Article | Read More Articles

Questions and Answers

Question: I have a need for a worker to perform combined duties. May I advertise and seek to employ an H-2B worker to perform a combination of duties?

Ans: Yes. An employer may require that an H-2B worker perform a combination of duties as long as the employer can prove that:

• the employer has normally employed workers with these combination of duties in the occupation;
  
• workers customarily perform these combination of duties in the area of intended employment; or
  
• requiring the combination of duties is a business necessity. In any event, the employer will be required to pay the salary that is the higher of the salaries of the two positions that are combined, based on the combination of the skill sets, regardless of the amount of time the worker will spend performing each respective duty.

More Q&A

H2B Myths and Reality

Myth: Seasonal businesses should just pay more and then they would be able to find workers.

Reality: While it is true the more you pay the more willing people are to work…this statement is not reasonable for business. Pay should be commensurate to the tasks being performed. A business owner can pay $20 per hour to have hamburgers made, but will anyone be able to afford to buy them?