H-2B Visa for Restaurant Cooks: Does It Work for a Japanese Chef?

H-2B fits a seasonal resort or hotel kitchen with a documented off-period, not a year-round restaurant with a permanent staffing gap. In practice it rarely staffs Japanese kitchens at all: fewer than a few dozen H-2B visas a year go to Japanese nationals, and Japan's eligibility for the program past 8 November 2025 is unconfirmed. Per worker, budget the wage plus roughly $1,680 to $4,460 in fees and required travel and subsistence reimbursement. Work backward from your season opening by at least 90 days for filing alone.

1. The one test that decides everything: temporary need

Under the DHS regulation, the question is not whether the job is temporary. It is whether your need for the worker is temporary, "whether or not the underlying job can be described as permanent or temporary." Generally the need must last one year or less (up to three years for a one-time event). DOL is stricter in practice: 20 CFR 655.6 says it will deny an application where the need lasts more than 9 months, except for a one-time occurrence.

One detail catches employers out: employment "is not seasonal if the period during which the services or labor is not needed is unpredictable or subject to change or is considered a vacation period for the petitioner's permanent employees." If you cannot write down the months each year when you do not need the cook, you probably do not have a seasonal need.

2. When H-2B fits a restaurant, and when it does not

For the permanent-hire case, see E-2, O-1B or EB-3 instead.

3. The cap and the supplemental visas

H-2B is capped by statute at 66,000 visas per fiscal year, split 33,000 per half. Demand regularly exceeds that. For fiscal year 2026, up to 64,716 supplemental visas were authorized under Public Law 119-37, and that authority expired on 30 September 2026; whether supplemental visas exist for FY2027 depends on new legislation and a new DHS rule, so do not plan around them. DOL's own figures show the scale: for work needed January to September 2026, it reported 10,474 applications with final decisions, certifying 143,929 worker positions, more than twice the statutory cap, which is why the visa cap, not the labor certification, is usually the bottleneck.

4. Can a Japanese cook realistically get an H-2B?

Two separate questions decide this, and both cut against a Japanese hire.

Eligibility. H-2B is generally limited to nationals of countries DHS designates by Federal Register notice. Japan was on the list published 8 November 2024, effective until 8 November 2025. We could not find a later designation notice as of September 2026; confirm Japan's current status on the USCIS H-2B eligible countries page or with counsel before planning a hire.

Even where eligible, the numbers are small. H-2B is dominated by a handful of source countries and occupations (landscaping, forestry, hospitality housekeeping) concentrated in Mexico and a short list of others; published DOL and DHS country breakdowns do not show Japan as a meaningful source of H-2B workers, and we found no public count of Japanese H-2B cooks specifically. Treat any restaurant plan built on Japanese H-2B cooks as unproven until you have confirmed both current eligibility and that a consulate in Japan is actually processing these cases.

Even if eligible, H-2B is an unusual route for a Japanese chef in practice: most chefs trained in Japan want a longer career move, not one season, and the three-year total limit (below) makes the route inherently short-term.

5. Steps and deadlines: a backward calendar

Admission runs for the approved petition period, plus up to 10 days before and 30 days after. Extensions are possible up to a total of three years in H-2B status; after that the worker must stay outside the US for an uninterrupted 60 days before being eligible again.

6. The full seasonal cost per worker

None of this includes the wage itself, which must be at least the highest of the prevailing wage and the federal, state or local minimum wage; the H-2B prevailing wage is a straight metro average with no skill levels, and it can run higher than a PERM Level I or II figure for the same job. See US prevailing wage for chefs for how to look up the figure for your metro. Add the three-fourths guarantee below as a real cost, not a formality: if business runs slow, you pay for the shortfall.

7. What the employer must provide

H-2B carries obligations a normal hire does not, under 20 CFR 655.20:

• Three-fourths guarantee: offer work for at least three quarters of the workdays in each 12-week period (6-week period for jobs under 120 days); pay for any shortfall.
• A copy of the job order in a language the worker understands, before the visa application.
• Notification duties: tell DHS within 2 workdays if a worker does not report within 5 workdays of the start date, misses 5 consecutive workdays without consent, is terminated early, or the work finishes more than 30 days early.
• No recruitment or attorney fees charged to the worker.

8. Deciding whether to use it

H-2B can work for a resort that needs extra cooks every summer or winter and has the paperwork discipline for DOL recruitment. It works poorly for a Japanese restaurant trying to bring in a specialist chef: the need is usually permanent, the program is capped and short, and the realistic supply of eligible Japanese cooks through this specific route is thin to unproven. If you run a resort property, the Las Vegas guide looks at why year-round demand there limits H-2B. For all US routes side by side, see US visa options for restaurants.

General information gathered from official sources in September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. H-2B cap, supplemental visa authority and country eligibility change often; confirm current rules with USCIS, DOL or an immigration attorney before filing.