BERLIN – While it took longer than expected, the federal government this week released an additional 35,000 H-2B visas for seasonal workers relied upon by many Eastern Shore businesses with the summer season rapidly approaching.
The federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor announced last Monday they were releasing an additional 35,000 temporary H-2B visas for the remainder of the year. The release of the additional H-2B visas was made possible by an amendment co-sponsored by Congressman Andy Harris to the fiscal year 2022 DHS appropriations bill, which was signed into law in March.
The release of the additional H-2B visas could provide a shot in the arm for many Lower Shore businesses that rely on the temporary, seasonal workforce they provide. The H-2B guest worker program provides access to seasonal temporary labor to businesses that can prove they were unable to hire willing and qualified American workers in certain non-agricultural seasonal roles.
U.S. employers are allowed to bring foreign nationals to this country to fill temporary, non-agricultural jobs with H-2B status. Unlike the J-1 visas, the workers are generally not students and there is not a work and travel component connected to the H-2B visas. The H-2B visa workers are seasonal and are relied upon heavily by the tourism, hospitality, landscaping, seafood and construction industries, for example.
There are 66,000 H-2B visas made available each year, with half allocated for the summer season and half allocated for the winter season. However, because of acute labor shortages in certain sectors of the economy, the DHS earlier this year made an additional 35,000 H-2B visas available for the remainder of the federal fiscal year.
However, the federal government dragged its feet on the release of the supplemental visas, which were approved back in March.
The additional supplemental visas were scheduled to be released on April 1, but were not made available until last week.
Harris said he was relieved the 35,000 visas were finally released this week.
“Although this announcement certainly could have come sooner, it is welcome news for the many businesses across Maryland’s 1st District who rely on these workers, especially with the summer season upon us,” he said. “The release of these additional visas is a step in the right direction, and I hope Congress acts quickly on the Returning Workers Exception Act that Congressman Henry Cuellar (Texas) and I put forward to permanently fix this annual labor problem.”
The allocation of the 35,000 supplemental visas consists of 23,500 available to returning workers, or those who received an H-2B visa or were otherwise granted H-2B status during one of the last three years. The remaining 11,500 are reserved for nationals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras or Haiti, regardless of whether they are returning workers or not. The semi-annual cap of 33,000 visas for the second half of fiscal year 2022 was reached early back in February.
Harris pointed out the number of guest worker visas applied for stands at 136,000, with only 35,000 still available.
Harris said the shortfall could be particularly hard on certain seasonal industries across his district on the Eastern Shore, including crab picking and processing plants.
Harris is also a co-sponsor of proposed legislation titled the H-2B Returning Worker Exemption Act, which could be a permanent solution to the chronic H-2B visa issues that plague seasonal businesses, particularly on the Eastern Shore. The bill would exempt workers who previously held H-2B visas in one of the last three fiscal years from counting against the annual 66,000 statutory cap for the supplemental visas.
