The federal government is nearly doubling the number of available H-2B visas, which allow certain trucking companies to hire foreign truck drivers temporarily.
After consulting with the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security has made an additional 64,716 H-2B visas available for fiscal year 2025 (Oct. 1, 2024 through Sept. 30, 2025). That is on top of the 66,000 temporary nonagricultural worker visas that Congress mandates each fiscal year.
Of the additional H-2B visas, nearly 45,000 will be available to returning workers who received a visa within the past three fiscal years. Remaining visas will be allocated to nationals of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras, regardless of whether they are returning workers.
The Department of Homeland Security has issued additional H-2B visas every year since at least 2017, except for 2020. Half of the congressionally mandated visas are given out in the first half of the fiscal year, with the remaining visas allocated in the second half. In September, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it had reached its H-2B visa cap for the first half of fiscal year 2025.
Under the H-2B visa program, U.S. employers can hire foreign workers to perform temporary, nonagricultural work on a one-time occurrence, seasonal, peak load or intermittent basis, as defined by law. A wide variety of industries take advantage of the program, including hospitality, tourism, landscaping, seafood processing and trucking.
Last fiscal year, more than 1,400 H-2B visas were given to more than 50 companies for transportation and material moving occupations.
Transportation companies with the most visas include Great Falls, Mont.-based Transport Leasing Company (145 visas), Zolfo Spring, Fla.-based ATP Agri Services (134), Watertown, Mass.-based Olympia Moving and Storage (115) and Charlestown, Mass.-based Gentle Giant Moving Company (100).
So far for the first half of fiscal year 2025, more than 400 H-2B visas have been allocated to transportation and material moving occupations at more than a dozen companies. Transport Leasing Company again leads with 163 visas, already surpassing all of fiscal year 2024, followed by Sugarland Ag with 95 visas. In a distant third is Alamo, Texas-based Aleman Trucking.
This year alone, several trucking companies have had their H-2B visa truck driver application denied. Many of those denials were based on simple procedural errors by the applicant rather than not meeting qualifications.
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, employers looking to hire H-2B visa workers under the additional cap must show that they are suffering or will suffer impending irreparable harm if they cannot hire foreign workers.
Applicants have to get certification from the Department of Labor proving there are not enough U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified and available to perform the temporary work. Employers also have to show that hiring H-2B workers will not adversely affect wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.
“There are employers across the country that would suffer greatly without H-2B workers. Authorizing these supplemental visas helps U.S. employers fill those positions,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. “It helps fuel our economy and reduce irregular migration while also providing a safe and lawful pathway to the United States for noncitizens who are prepared to work.” LL
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