NFIB Action
On March 12, NFIB was on Capitol Hill with NFIB/Virginia members, including A.J. Erskine, owner of Bevans Oyster Company in Kinsale, Va. The group met with members of the House and Senate to discuss the negative impacts an H-2B visa shortage will have on small businesses that rely on temporary seasonal workers. If the Virginia seafood industry is unable to secure workers for the upcoming season, Virginia jobs will be cut and consumers will be forced to buy seafood out of state.
- Many other seasonal small businesses, including those in landscaping, accommodation, and those in food service industry, are in similar situations.
NFIB continues to work with the H-2B Workforce Coalition to pass legislation expanding the H-2B visa program.
NFIB has urged Congress on numerous occasions to provide immediate H-2B relief.
NFIB supports S. 988, which would exempt, for five years, returning H-2B workers from counting towards the overall fiscal year cap of 66,000, and H.R. 1843, which would exempt returning workers permanently.
- NFIB believes that workers who have held H-2B visas during one of the past three years and have completely followed the law should not count towards the annual limit.
Exempting returning H-2B workers is critical for seasonal small businesses for several reasons:
- If workers are permitted to return to their previous employers, it would reduce the costly burden of having to retrain workers;
- Because returning workers are not exempted currently, the supply of H-2B visas was exhausted on Jan. 2 before spring and summer seasonal small businesses had an opportunity to apply for H-2B workers.
- It is important to remember that under the H-2B program employers cannot apply for workers more than 120 days before they are needed, thus spring and summer employers have been frozen out of hiring the workers they needed to operate their businesses.
H-2B Visa Program
H-2B visas are reserved for non-agricultural, temporary seasonal workers.
- 66,000 H-2B visas are allotted each fiscal year (33,000 for October through March, and another 33,000 for April through September).
- 66,000 is a statutory limit--it does not accurately reflect the number of workers needed for temporary and seasonal jobs.
In the last two years, Congress has exempted returning H-2B workers from this cap.
- The last exemption expired Sept. 30 and this year, the cap was met Jan. 2.
It is important to understand that H-2B workers are non-immigrant workers that are hired for seasonal, temporary or peak-load need in non-agricultural jobs for generally one year or less, after which they return home.
- Prior to hiring an H-2B worker, employers must perform extensive outreach and recruitment domestically for American workers for 60 days after which state employment agencies certify that no American worker is available.
- Applications for H-2B visas can be submitted no sooner than three months before they are needed.
