Congress fails to address H-2B visa provision

The House of Representatives is set to approve a spending bill Thursday that would dramatically reduce the number of visas available next year for seasonal workers. This legislation is considered "must-pass" because it is critical to fund the federal government from December 9 through at least the end of March and possibly into May.

However, the bill does not renew a one-year, one-time expansion of the H-2B seasonal worker visa program that increased the number of visas available in 2016. This expansion, known as the Returning Worker Exemption, was championed by lawmakers who represent cyclical tourist hubs, as well as the national and state associations representing the horticulture industry. Employers use the H-2B program when they cannot find local workers to fill temporary jobs in many fields, including amusement parks, golf courses, landscaping, forestry, stone quarries, sugar refineries and other seasonal industries.

AmericanHort wrote in a statement that it is “deeply disappointed at the House of Representatives’ failure to renew the H-2B Returning Worker Exemption, a policy that was enacted on a bipartisan basis one year ago, and would help to ensure that small and seasonal businesses in the landscape industry and beyond will have an adequate workforce for the peak spring season that is only a few months away. Now, an orderly spring 2017 is in jeopardy.”

The number of H-2B visas made available is capped at 66,000 annually. But under the rules of the Returning Worker Exemption, if seasonal workers had received H-2B visa in 2013, 2014 or 2015, their 2016 visa did not count toward that cap. That provision expired on Oct. 1. Due to the exemption, an additional 198,000 H-2B visas were available last year for seasonal guest workers.

In its statement, AmericanHort wrote that renewing this policy is good for American small and family businesses and American workers, whose livelihood is linked to the ability of their employers to meet production peaks with legally authorized supplemental workers.

"For the H-2B visa holders themselves," the statement reads, "the policy rewards good behavior, helping to ensure that those who have obeyed our immigration laws will get back to the employers they know and trust."

The organization thanked the House members that signed a letter in support of the provision, as well as Reps. Andy Harris (R-MD), Dan Newhouse (R-WA), Jared Polis (D-CO), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), and Alcee Hastings (D-FL) for last-ditch efforts to persuade the Rules Committee to address this issue in a timely fashion. AmericanHort also thanked its members and state association partners, who mobilized to send hundreds of messages and make many calls to Congress.