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Eli Kantor is a labor, employment and immigration law attorney. He has been practicing labor, employment and immigration law for more than 36 years. He has been featured in articles about labor, employment and immigration law in the L.A. Times, Business Week.com and Daily Variety. He is a regular columnist for the Daily Journal. Telephone (310)274-8216; eli@elikantorlaw.com. For more information, visit beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com and and beverlyhillsemploymentlaw.com

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Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Trump Administration Makes 15,000 Additional H-2B Visas Available

Wall Street Journal
By Laura Meckler
May 25, 2018

The Department of Homeland Security said Friday it would provide businesses another 15,000 H-2B visas to bring low-skilled foreign workers to the U.S. this summer, offering a modest infusion to the popular program.

The number of visas available each year for seasonal work is capped by statute at 66,000, evenly divided between the summer and winter seasons. Congress declined to lift that cap during negotiations this spring. It did, however, give the secretary of homeland security authority to issue up to 69,000 more this summer if she determines there is sufficient need.

A range of businesses—including fisheries, landscapers and those in summer tourist spots—have complained about worker shortages and have been waiting to see if Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will use that authority. But people who support restrictions on immigration, including some in the White House, argue that foreign workers drive down American wages and oppose additional visas.

Faced with a similar choice last summer, then-DHS Secretary John Kelly also provided an additional 15,000 visas but cast it as a one-time only move.

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Business owners reacted to the news with relief, but also some anxiety over how the visas will be distributed. This year, demand was so high that they were handed out by lottery, surprising many longtime users of the program who lost out.

“I’ll call my attorney right now—make sure he’s ready to put me in,” said Peter Hall, the owner of two restaurants in Wellfleet, Mass. He didn’t get any visas this year through the lottery and said he is in dire need of line cooks.

“The stress factor is just unbelievable. I don’t think I’ve ever been so stressed out in my life,” he said.

Ms. Nielsen had told members of Congress that she intended to authorize about 15,000 more, so Friday’s announcement was expected.

“The limitations on H-2B visas were originally meant to protect American workers, but when we enter a situation where the program unintentionally harms American businesses it needs to be reformed,” Ms. Nielsen said in a statement.

The regulation providing for the extra visas was to be published online on Friday and in the Federal Register next week. After that, applications will be accepted.

The rules governing the additional visas are expected to be the same as last year’s version, with businesses required to attest that they will suffer “irreparable harm” without the additional workers.

Applications will be processed in the order in which they are received, a DHS spokeswoman said. A lottery will again be used if the number of applications overwhelms the number of available visas in the first few days.

For this summer season, businesses filed requests for more than 81,000 workers with the Labor Department on Jan. 1, the first day possible, a record, and more since then. Many firms tried to file applications after midnight on New Year’s Eve to be near the front of the line.

The DHS spokeswoman said the agency encourages businesses to submit their applications as soon as possible and notes that premium processing is available, which allows for expedited handling for an additional fee.

The program is popular with businesses that say they cannot find sufficient workers, particularly when unemployment is at 3.9%, the lowest since 2000. Some of President Donald Trump’s properties have relied on the program.

Critics say foreign workers hurt Americans.

“The H-2B program should be reformed so the most urgent requests get priority,” said Roy Beck of the advocacy group Numbers USA, which backs restrictions on legal and illegal immigration. “Too many of the visas are going for nonessential landscaping and resort jobs.”

Harry Phillips, owner of Russell Hall Seafood on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, said he hopes to land 50 of the additional visas so he can bring workers north from Mexico to process crabmeat.

This is the first year since the early 1990s that his company didn’t get visas to hire foreign seasonal workers, he said. That, plus a lack of local labor, has left the company’s crab-picking room in Fishing Creek, Md., empty and off line since the crab season opened April 1.

“Time is of the essence here,” Mr. Phillips said. “We’ve lost two months. You can’t get that back.”

For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com

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