The Department of Homeland Security is proposing to amend its regulations affecting temporary non-agricultural workers within the H- 2B nonimmigrant classification and their U.S. employers. This proposed rule would modify current limitations with respect to petitions for unnamed H-2B workers and the period of time that an H-2B worker must remain outside the United States before he or she would be eligible to seek certain nonimmigrant status again. In addition, to better ensure the integrity of the H-2B program, this rule proposes to: Require employer attestations; preclude the imposition of fees by employers on prospective H-2B workers; require reimbursement of fees paid by H-2B workers to recruiters; preclude the change of the employment start date after the grant of the temporary labor certification; eliminate the process whereby H-2B petitions may be approved notwithstanding the absence of a valid temporary labor certification; require employer notifications when H-2B workers fail to show up for work, are terminated, or abscond from the worksite; require certain H-2B workers departing the United States to participate in a temporary worker visa exit pilot program; delegate authority to enforce the terms of the H-2B petition to the Secretary of Labor (in the event the Department and the Department of Labor (DOL) work out a mutually agreeable delegation of enforcement authority from the Department to DOL); and bar nationals of countries consistently refusing or unreasonably delaying repatriation of their nationals from obtaining H-2B status. This rule also proposes to change the definition of "temporary employment" to recognize that such employment could last up to three years. This proposed rule would encourage and facilitate the lawful employment of eligible foreign temporary non-agricultural workers, while continuing to safeguard the rights of workers.
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