VERIFIED NEWS · TEMPORARY WORKERS
USCIS reaches the H-2B cap for the first half of fiscal 2027
The announcement concerns new cap-subject petitions for employment starting before April 1, 2027. It is not a shutdown of every H-2B filing, a visa cancellation, or a port-of-entry enforcement action.
What USCIS announced
USCIS said it received enough petitions to meet the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the first half of fiscal year 2027. The agency identified September 4 as the final receipt date for new cap-subject petitions requesting an employment start date before April 1, 2027.
The announcement describes petition intake at USCIS. It does not report how many visas the State Department has issued, how many workers have arrived, or how many people CBP has admitted at ports of entry.
What the cap announcement does not close
USCIS distinguishes cap-subject petitions from categories that are exempt from the numerical limit. The agency says it continues to accept qualifying petitions that are not counted against the cap, including petitions for current H-2B workers seeking an extension of stay, a change in employment terms, or a change of employer.
That distinction means “cap reached” does not mean that every H-2B-related filing stops. Whether a particular petition is cap-exempt is a case-specific question this article does not answer.
The first-half window
The regular statutory H-2B allocation is divided between two parts of the federal fiscal year. This announcement covers requested employment beginning before April 1, 2027—the first-half period. It does not announce the result for the second-half allocation.
Primary federal sources
Corrections: No corrections have been made.