WASHINGTON — The Biden administration, responding to a rising demand for temporary workers, announced Thursday that it would provide American companies with an additional 35,000 seasonal worker visas to hire foreign workers ahead of the upcoming summer months.
The visa program, known as the H-2B visa program and expanding, allows American companies to hire foreign workers for seasonal nonfarm jobs such as lawn mowing, hotel room cleaning, amusement park staff, and waitstaff. Industries such as landscaping, hospitality and tourism are particularly reliant on foreign nationals to meet high demand during the busy summer months.
Homeland Security Minister Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in a statement that the decision was made “due to current demand in the labor market” to “support American companies.”
The number of H-2B visas is normally limited to 33,000 for six months of each fiscal year. The US Citizenship and Immigration Service announced in early March that it had already reached the upper limit for the period from April to September.
Last April, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would provide an additional 22,000 seasonal worker visas after US employers expressed a need for additional workers. And in December, the administration made an additional 20,000 visas available – the first time the figure has been increased for the winter season, when demand is usually less than in the summer.
Of the 35,000 additional visas made available for this summer, 23,500 will be available for returning workers from the past three years, while 11,500 will be reserved for foreign nationals from Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
While the expansion is likely to be welcomed by employers looking to fill low-wage jobs, some labor groups and those wanting to limit immigration argue that the visa program deprives American workers of opportunities and depresses wages. To hire foreign workers on an H-2B visa, employers must first demonstrate to the Department of Labor that they cannot find American workers to meet their needs.
US companies as diverse as landscaping companies, amusement parks, restaurants and shrimp boats have described how they continue to struggle to hire Americans to fill vacancies. The coronavirus pandemic has also disrupted the flow of foreign workers to the United States for the past two years. But as the job market recovered, many employers have struggled with job seekers across the United States with more clout and less appetite for low-level jobs.
“Even with these additional visas, there aren’t nearly enough visas for all types of workers that employers want to hire under the H-2B program,” said Stephen W. Yale-Loehr, an immigration attorney who teaches at Cornell Law School . “But at least in the short term, there is something the administration can do to help immediately.”
In his statement, Mr Mayorkas acknowledged that foreign workers filling seasonal jobs could be exploited by employers. He said the administration would take action against such violations.
“Recognizing the importance of strong worker protections,” he said, “we will take a closer look at employers with documented breaches of obligations to their workers and the H-2B program.”