This article was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, of which Loan Huynh is an active member.
On December 29, 2025, the Department of Labor’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) reminded employers and other interested stakeholders that the filing window to submit an H-2B Application for Temporary Employment Certification (Form ETA-9142B and appendices) requesting work start dates of April 1, 2026, or later, opened on January 1, 2026. H-2B applications requesting an April 1, 2026, work start date will be denied if they were filed before that date.
OFLC will randomly order for processing all H-2B applications requesting a work start date of April 1, 2026, that were filed during the initial three calendar days (January 1-3, 2026) using the randomization procedures published in the Federal Register on March 4, 2019.
If OFLC identifies multiple applications that appear to have been filed for the same job opportunity, OFLC will issue a Notice of Deficiency. If multiple filings were submitted during the three-day filing window, all applications will receive a Notice of Deficiency requesting that the employer demonstrate that the job opportunities are not the same. Employers that fail to establish a bona fide need for each application will receive a non-acceptance denial for each application.
