As of December 24, 2010, USCIS receipted 32,062 petitions toward the 33,000 H-2B cap for the first half of the fiscal year. This count includes 28,053 approved and 4,009 pending petitions. H-2B quota is divided into two halves ??33,000 from October to March and 33,000 from April to September.

Once the 33,000 cap for the first half has been reached, the earliest start date for the new petition will be April 1, 2011.