Labor Department to Add 35,000 H-2B Visas in Emergency Rule Set for Feb. 25

Cap Increase to Publish Three Weeks Early

The Department of Labor will issue an emergency temporary labor certification rule on Feb. 25, 2026, that adds 35,000 H-2B visas to the fiscal 2026 cap, according to two Labor Department economists familiar with the rulemaking. The rule is scheduled to appear in the Federal Register as Notice 2026-03892 and will take effect the same day, bypassing the standard 60-day comment period because agency lawyers have classified it as an emergency response to seasonal labor shortages, the economists said.

The additional visas will be split into three tranches: 14,000 for seafood processing operations in Alaska, Louisiana, and North Carolina; 12,000 for landscaping and groundskeeping firms in Florida, Texas, and Colorado; and 9,000 for seasonal hospitality businesses in Wisconsin, Maine, and Montana. Employers must file a completed Form ETA-9142B with the Chicago or Atlanta National Processing Center no later than March 6, 2026, and must pay a $130 filing fee for each requested worker, the sources said.

The rule will also require employers to advertise open positions on the state workforce agency job board for at least 10 days before filing and to pay the prevailing wage determined by the department's Online Wage Library for the specific occupation and county. A senior official at a trade association representing seasonal employers said the association had pressed the Labor Secretary's office since December 2025 to release the additional allocation before the usual mid-March announcement.

Small Businesses Face Tight Window

A small-business owner in the sector, who runs a landscaping company in Fort Collins, Colorado, said he turned away roughly $400,000 in residential and commercial contracts last spring because he could not secure enough workers through the regular H-2B lottery. He said he learned of the emergency rule during a Feb. 19 conference call hosted by the National Association of Landscape Professionals at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill.

The Fort Collins contractor, who requested anonymity because he is preparing bids for municipal projects, said he plans to request 25 workers for the April through October season and has already reserved three motel rooms in Loveland for workers who arrive in early April. He said the $130 filing fee and the accelerated March 6 deadline will strain his five-person office but that the additional slots are the only realistic path to meeting contract obligations.

The trade association official said landscaping firms, seafood processors, and seasonal hotels are racing to compile certified labor certifications and proof of recruitment before the deadline. The official said employers who complete their filings by March 6 should receive decisions from the Chicago or Atlanta processing centers by March 20, while late filers will be excluded from the supplemental allocation and must wait for the fiscal 2027 cap, which opens Oct. 1, 2026.

Interagency Meeting Locked in Final Numbers

The two Labor Department economists said the emergency rule was finalized during an interagency meeting on Feb. 20, 2026, at 11 a.m. at the department's headquarters at 200 Constitution Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. Attendees included policy counsel from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Department of Homeland Security, who agreed to allocate the 35,000 visas across the second and third quarters of fiscal 2026, the economists said.

USCIS will publish a companion notice on Feb. 26, 2026, explaining how the extra slots will be distributed to petitioners, according to one of the economists. The rule will cite authority under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) and 20 CFR 655, the economists said. It will also require the department's Employment and Training Administration to post updated occupation-specific wage rates for the Online Wage Library by Feb. 24 so employers can calculate prevailing wages before filing.

One economist said internal estimates project that the supplemental visas will support roughly $410 million in additional payroll over six months. The trade association official said seasonal industries account for about $31 billion in annual U.S. output and that labor shortfalls in landscaping alone caused $1.2 billion in delayed or canceled projects during the 2025 season.

Economic Impact and Political Stakes

Republican lawmakers from districts with heavy seasonal employment are expected to support the measure, while some conservative groups have warned that expanding guest-worker programs conflicts with the administration's broader effort to tighten the labor market for U.S. citizens. A House Education and Workforce Committee aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because the hearing has not been announced, said the Workforce Protections Subcommittee has tentatively scheduled an oversight hearing for Feb. 27, 2026, at 10 a.m. to examine the rule's effect on domestic wages.

The rule will require employers to certify that hiring foreign workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers, a requirement the two economists said will be enforced through random audits of at least 1,200 employers during fiscal 2026. The small-business owner said he welcomes the audits because they level the playing field with competitors who undercut prevailing wages.

Employers who file after the March 6 deadline will not be eligible for the supplemental allocation and will have to wait for the regular fiscal 2027 cap. The Alamo Post will monitor the Federal Register filing, the USCIS notice, and the subcommittee hearing.