Understanding our H-2B Employer Data Hub
On June 23, 2021, we launched the H-2B Employer Data Hub to provide information on U.S. employers or U.S. agents (“H-2B petitioners”) petitioning for H-2B workers. The data hub provides an additional layer of transparency to the H-2B program by allowing the public to search for H-2B petitioners by cap fiscal year, employer (petitioner) name, city, state, zip code, worksite state, cap type, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code, and Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code.
We process an average of 8 million applications, petitions, and requests annually. These include more than half a million Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, including petitions for H-2B workers and other employment-based nonimmigrant workers. We receive many requests from Congress, research institutions, the media, and the public about the H-2B program and how the H-2B visas are allocated by petitioner information or job type. We strive to make as much data about our operations available to the public as possible. We do so to improve understanding of the immigration system and our role in it, as well as to comply with our reporting mandates.
How We Collect the Data
Employers or agents petitioning for temporary nonagricultural workers must obtain a single valid temporary labor certification (TLC) from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), or if the workers will be employed on Guam, from the Guam Department of Labor, before filing a Form I-129 with USCIS. The data in the H-2B Employer Data Hub comes from fields on an employer’s Form I-129, from USCIS’ adjudicative decisions, and from the DOL H-2B Application for Temporary Employment Certification (Form ETA-9142B (PDF)). The approval and denial data in the data hub reflects our first adjudicative decision. The data does not include later decisions, such as a decision on an appeal or revocation of an approved petition. The data hub does not include petitions that are pending adjudication when USCIS generates the data. Four data elements included in the data hub are from the DOL Temporary Employment Certification, specifically the SOC code, NAICS code, wage level, and worksite state. DOL provides quarterly H-2B TLC Disclosure data on its public website.
We merge DOL Form ETA-9142B data with USCIS data by matching on the ETA case number. We did not include the ETA Case Number data in USCIS’ data systems until fiscal year 2018. As such, data from the DOL Form ETA-9142B (SOC code, NAICS code, wage level, and worksite state) are not available in the H-2B Employer Data Hub for FY 2015 through FY 2017.
Data Accuracy
We strive to ensure that the data in our electronic systems are accurate; however, because we transfer data from paper forms into the electronic systems manually, data entry errors may occur. Additionally, information provided on a paper form is reported by the petitioner (or their representative or preparer), so there may be errors on the forms when we receive them. For example, a petitioner may mix up numbers in their tax identification number.
Data entry and petitioner errors may result in a missing and/or erroneous employer name, tax ID, state, city, or ZIP code in our electronic systems.
Information on the accuracy and disclosure of DOL temporary labor certification data can be found on the DOL website. We do not have any rights or privileges to DOL data except that which is made available to the public and therefore cannot attest to the quality of the data.
How the Data Hub is Organized and Maintained
We aggregate the counts of initial approval, initial denial, continuing approval, and continuing denial by cap fiscal year, employer tax ID, employer state, city, zip code, cap type, work site state, two-digit NAICS code, two-digit SOC code, wage level, and whether visas were consular processed. For example, one employer with several addresses in a given fiscal year will have multiple rows in the data. We use the most common spelling of employer name per unique tax ID.
We anticipate updating the H-2B Employer Data Hub quarterly and providing downloadable data files. For example, we will provide data for the first quarter (October-December) of a fiscal year in April of the fiscal year. This timeline allows us to receive and process petitions as well as download and merge DOL data for each quarter.
H-2B Employer Data Hub Glossary
|
Data Field |
Data Field Description |
|---|---|
|
Employer (Petitioner) Name |
Petitioner’s firm/employer name from I-129, Page 1, Part 1, Question 2 of the current form. |
|
Initial Approval (Workers) |
H-2B petitions with “New employment” or “New concurrent employment” selected on Part 2, Question 2 of the Form I-129 whose first decision is an approval. Number represents counts of workers approved. |
|
Initial Denial (Workers) |
H-2B petitions with “New employment” or “New concurrent employment” selected on Part 2, Question 2 of the Form I-129 whose first decision is a denial. Number represents counts of workers denied. |
|
Continuing Approval (Workers) |
H-2B petitions with anything other than “New employment” or “New concurrent employment” selected on Part 2, Question 2 of the Form I-129, whose first decision is an approval. This includes, for example, continuing employment, change of employer, and amended petitions. Number represents counts of workers approved. |
|
Continuing Denial (Workers) |
H-2B petitions with anything other than “New employment” or “New concurrent employment” selected on Part 2, Question 2 of the Form I-129 whose first decision is a denial. This includes, for example, continuing employment, change of employer, and amended petitions. Number represents counts of workers denied. |
|
NAICS |
North American Industrial Classification System Code: data from the DOL Temporary Labor Certification public disclosure file. Two-digit industry code associated with the employer requesting temporary labor certification, as classified by the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS). Form ETA-9142B Section C, Item 13 (NAICS_CODE). For more information on the NAICS, visit the U.S. Census Bureau’s North American Industry Classification Code webpage. Blanks or missing data are coded and presented in the data hub as “unknown.” |
|
SOC |
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System: data from the DOL Temporary Labor Certification public disclosure file. Two-digit occupational code associated with the job being requested for temporary labor certification, as classified by the SOC System. For more information on the SOC system, visit the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Standard Occupational Classification webpage. Form ETA-9142B Section B, Item 2 (SOC_CODE). Blanks or missing data are coded and presented in the data hub as “unknown”. |
|
Tax ID |
The last four digits of the Petitioner’s Tax ID Number from the Form I-129, Page 1, Part 1, Question 5. |
|
State |
Petitioner’s state from the Form I-129, Page 1, Part 1, Question 3. This is the state indicated in the mailing address of the employer and is not necessarily the beneficiary work location. |
|
City |
Petitioner’s city from the Form I-129, Page 1, Part 1, Question 3. This is the city indicated in the mailing address of the employer and is not necessarily the beneficiary work location. |
|
ZIP |
Petitioner’s five-digit ZIP code from the Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, Page 1, Part 1, Question 3. This is the ZIP code indicated in the mailing address of the employer and is not necessarily the beneficiary work location. |
|
Worksite State |
State information for worksite location. Data from the DOL Temporary Labor Certification public disclosure file. Form ETA-9142B Section F.b Item 4 (WORKSITE_STATE). |
|
Cap Fiscal Year |
Indicates the cap fiscal year the beneficiary was counted against. There is a statutory numerical limit, or "cap," on the total number of workers who may be issued an H-2B visa or otherwise granted H-2B status during a fiscal year. Currently, Congress has set the H-2B cap at 66,000 per fiscal year, with 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the first half of the fiscal year (Oct. 1-March 31) and 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the second half of the fiscal year (April 1-Sept. 30). Any unused numbers from the first half of the fiscal year will be available for employers seeking to hire H-2B workers during the second half of the fiscal year. However, unused H-2B numbers from one fiscal year do not carry over into the next. Once the H-2B cap is reached, USCIS may only accept petitions for H-2B workers who are exempt from the H-2B cap. For additional information on the current H-2B cap, and on workers who are exempt from it, see the Cap Count for H-2B Nonimmigrants webpage. |
|
Cap Type |
Cap type indicates the part of the cap fiscal year that the beneficiary was counted against. “1st Half” cap indicates that the beneficiary was counted against the 33,000 cap for workers who begin employment in the first half of the fiscal year (Oct. 1-March 31). “2nd Half” cap indicates that the beneficiary was counted against the 33,000 cap for workers who begin employment in the second half of the fiscal year (April 1-Sept. 30). Cap exempt includes workers in the United States in H-2B status who extend their stay, change employers, or change the terms and conditions of employment and are not subject to the cap. Similarly, H-2B workers who have previously been counted against the cap in the same fiscal year that the proposed employment begins will not be subject to the cap if the employer names them on the petition and indicates that they have already been counted. Additionally, petitions for the following types of workers are exempt from the H-2B cap: fish roe processors, fish roe technicians, or supervisors of fish roe processing; and workers performing labor or services in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands or Guam from Nov. 28, 2009, until Dec. 31, 2029. Spouses and children of H-2B workers are also not counted against the cap. Supplemental caps are increases to the numerical limit (cap) on H-2B visas based on time-limited statutory authority granted by Congress. In FY 2016, Congress created an additional exemption to the numerical limit (cap) on H-2B visas for "returning workers." Returning workers were defined as H-2B workers who were counted against the annual H-2B cap of 66,000 during FY 2013, 2014, or 2015, and did not count against the cap in FY 2016. These cases were included in the supplemental category. In addition, Congress has, in various fiscal years, provided the Secretary of Homeland Security with discretion, after consultation with the Secretary of Labor, to increase the H-2B cap “upon the determination that the needs of American businesses cannot be satisfied in [the fiscal year] with U.S. workers who are willing, qualified, and able to perform temporary nonagricultural labor.” If a decision is made to authorize additional H-2B visas for the remainder of the fiscal year, DHS and DOL will publish a temporary final rule in the Federal Register identifying the number of additional visas to be made available, any limitations, and the timing of when such an increase will take effect. |
|
Hourly Wage Level |
Hourly wages paid to workers subject to the temporary labor certification. Form ETA-9142B Section F.B., Item 8. (BASIC_WAGE_RATE_FROM, BASIC_WAGE_RATE_TO, and PER). Wages are aggregated into $2 increments. |
|
Consular Processed |
Beneficiaries outside of the United States may receive their H-2B visa at a U.S. Department of State consulate abroad. This pathway is referred to as consular processing. “Yes” indicates the H-2B visa was consular processed and “No” indicates the H-2B visa beneficiary was processed by USCIS in the United States. |
For additional reporting on the H-2B visa program, see USCIS Reports and Studies, which includes bi-annual and annual congressional reports from 2005 and later.