H-2B Visa for Restaurant Cooks: When It Fits and When It Doesn't

H-2B is the US visa for temporary non-agricultural work. It is widely used by seasonal hotels, resorts and summer restaurants to fill kitchens for a season. It is also widely misunderstood by year-round restaurants that hope it can solve a permanent staffing gap. It cannot. This guide explains where the line is, what the process involves and what it costs the employer beyond the wage.

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).

The Department of Labor is stricter in practice: its rule at 20 CFR 655.6 says it will deny an application where the need lasts more than 9 months, except for a one-time occurrence.

The need must fit one of four types:

One detail often catches employers out. The regulation says 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."

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

Fits

• Resort and hotel kitchens with a clear season and a documented off-period.
• Year-round operations with a documented seasonal peak, using peakload to add cooks on top of a permanent team.

Does not fit

• A city restaurant that is busy all year and needs a sushi chef permanently.
• Using a string of H-2B seasons as a substitute for a permanent hire.
• Bringing in a senior chef to lead the kitchen. That role is permanent by nature. Look at 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 into 33,000 for each half of the fiscal year. Demand has regularly exceeded that.

Congress has repeatedly given DHS authority to release supplemental visas. 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 will exist for fiscal year 2027 depends on new legislation and a new DHS rule, so do not build a plan that assumes them.

DOL's own figures show the scale: for work needed from January to September 2026, it reported 10,474 applications with final decisions, certifying 143,929 worker positions. That is more than twice the statutory cap of 66,000, which is why the visa cap, not the labor certification, is usually the bottleneck.

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

H-2B visas are generally limited to nationals of countries that DHS designates in a notice in the Federal Register. Japan was on the list in the notice published on 8 November 2024, which stated its designations were effective until 8 November 2025.

We could not find a later designation notice in the Federal Register when checking in September 2026. Before planning an H-2B hire from Japan, confirm Japan's current status on the USCIS H-2B page or with counsel.

Even where eligible, H-2B is an unusual route for a Japanese chef. Most chefs trained in Japan are looking for a longer career move, not a single season, and the three-year limit (below) makes the route inherently short-term.

5. The steps and deadlines

1. Prevailing wage (ETA-9141). Request it from DOL at least 60 days before you need to file the labor certification. DOL's processing page in September 2026 showed H-2B prevailing wage requests from July 2026 being worked on.
2. Labor certification (ETA-9142B) and job order. File no more than 90 and no less than 75 calendar days before your date of need. The job order goes to the State Workforce Agency and appears on DOL's electronic job registry.
3. Recruit US workers. After DOL accepts the application, the employer must carry out the required recruitment within 14 calendar days, including contacting former US employees and posting the job at the workplace (or notifying the union). You must keep accepting US applicants until 21 days before the date of need, and hire qualified ones.
4. Recruitment report to DOL, then certification.
5. Form I-129 petition to USCIS with the certification.
6. Visa interview for each worker at a US consulate.

Admission lasts 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 three years the worker must stay outside the US for an uninterrupted 60 days before being eligible again.

6. What the employer must provide

H-2B carries employer obligations that a normal hire does not. The main ones under 20 CFR 655.20:

• Wage: at least the highest of the prevailing wage and the federal, state or local minimum wage, paid free and clear.
• Three-fourths guarantee: you must offer work for at least three quarters of the workdays in each 12-week period (6-week period for jobs under 120 days). If business is slow, you pay for the shortfall.
• Inbound travel and subsistence: reimbursed once the worker completes half the job period, if not paid earlier. Subsistence is set by DOL: at least $16.78 a day and up to $178 a day with receipts (rates effective 7 April 2026).
• Return travel if the worker completes the period or is dismissed early.
• Visa and related fees reimbursed to the worker.
• Tools and equipment: provided free of charge, which for a cook would cover the knives and kitchen equipment the job requires.
• 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 if the work finishes more than 30 days early.

7. Fees

Add the travel, subsistence and visa reimbursements above, plus agent or attorney costs.

8. Deciding whether to use it

H-2B can work well for a resort that needs extra cooks every summer or winter and has the paperwork discipline to handle DOL recruitment. It works poorly for a Japanese restaurant trying to bring in a specialist chef, because the need is permanent and the program is capped and short.

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 visa sponsorship for Japanese chefs.

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