Delahunt, Kennedy Propose Legislation to Help Ease Visa Shortage
WASHINGTON, March 1 – Rep. William Delahunt and Sen. Edward Kennedy have proposed legislation to reserve half of the visas for temporary workers each year for summer employees.
For the state’s summer tourism industry, Kennedy said in a statement, the bill “provides an immediate solution” to a serious problem.
In the past two years, the annual cap of 66,000 H-2B visas for temporary nonfarm workers has been met relatively early in the federal fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. This year the cap was met on Jan. 3; last year, all 66,000 visas were issued by March.
The Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act proposes to reserve 33,000 of the 66,000 visas for employers needing summer workers. Federal regulations do not permit employers to apply for visas more than 120 days before they need them.
The proposed legislation also would allow employees who have received H-2B visas in the past three years to be exempt from the total number in the visa cap.
“For the second year in a row, we have reached the H-2B cap before Massachusetts’s summer tourism industry is eligible to apply,” Kennedy said in his statement. “This bill provides an immediate solution to this problem.”
Kennedy’s bill has been sent to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship and Delahunt’s bill has been sent to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims. Neither panel has scheduled hearings.
Last year Delahunt and Kennedy proposed legislation that would have added 40,000 workers to the visa cap. Those bills never got out of committee.
“Closing the door on H-2B visas creates enormous and urgent hardship for small businesses throughout the country,” Delahunt said in a statement. “Congress must act this year.”
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