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A United States programme through which eligible employers seek foreign workers for temporary non-agricultural jobs.
Save conceptThe H-2B programme is a United States route for temporary non-agricultural employment of foreign workers. It concerns an employer’s need for workers under the programme’s labour and immigration requirements. The category is different from the agricultural work route and from a general permission to live or work permanently in the country.
The employer seeks the necessary labour certification and immigration approval for the employment described in its application. Recruitment is part of that process, with requirements intended to protect workers. Department of Labor guidance says an employer must forbid engaged international recruiters from seeking or receiving recruitment payments from prospective workers. The application and the recruitment activity are subject to separate checks.
Imagine a non-agricultural business that expects a temporary increase in activity. It examines whether its need meets the programme’s conditions and seeks the required approvals for the jobs it describes. A prospective worker hearing from a recruiter has not thereby received government approval or a completed employment arrangement. This is a process example, not an assertion that any particular employer or applicant qualifies.
A recruiter’s involvement, an advertised job and an application are different stages from approval and a visa decision. The H-2B label alone does not establish a lawful offer or justify a fee. The programme’s specific protections and procedures must be considered separately from a recruiter’s commercial description of an opportunity.
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