This article was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, of which Loan Huynh is an active member.
On June 20, 2025, the Department of Labor’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) reminded employers that the three-day filing window to submit an H-2B Application for Temporary Employment Certification (Form ETA-9142B and appendices) requesting a work start date of October 1, 2025, will open on July 3, 2025, and close on July 5, 2025.
This three-day period is the earliest an employer may file an application for an October 1, 2025, work start date, OFLC said, warning that “H-2B applications requesting October 1, 2025, work start dates will be denied if they are filed before July 3, 2025, at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time.” After the three-day filing window closes, OFLC said it will randomly order applications for assignment to analysts for review and processing.
OFLC offered the following filing tips:
- Only one H-2B Application for Temporary Employment Certification per job opportunity should be filed to prevent duplicate filings and delayed processing.
- If “yes” is selected for “Board, Lodging, or Other Facilities” under section F.d.5, Form ETA-9142B, and deductions other than those required by law may be made from the worker’s pay, details should be included about the deductions and amounts to cover the reasonable cost of board, lodging and other facilities in section F.d.6.
- The employer must submit with its H-2B application a copy of the job order being submitted concurrently to the State Workforce Agency (SWA) serving the area of intended employment. The job order submitted must be a copy of the actual job order or a completed job order form used by the SWA for posting in its job clearance systems.
- Original signatures and dates on Appendix B must be current.
