AmericanHort Endorses Need to Release Additional H-2B Visas

On March 6, AmericanHort released a statement strongly encouraging the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to exercise her authority to release the nearly 70,000 additional temporary, non-immigrant H-2B visas in excess of the statutory annual cap of 66,000.

On March 4, 2019 a bipartisan group of 27 Senators and 110 Representatives presented a letter from Congress to Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, urging her to quickly exercise the authority provided by Congress to release the full amount of visas authorized and simply continue processing H-2B petitions until any additional visa allotment is exhausted.

According to Craig Regelbrugge, senior vice president of Advocacy & Research at AmericanHort, “with serious labor shortages bearing down on our industry as spring nears, we’re part of a full-court press for relief. This is a timely, strong, bipartisan letter from Congress compelling swift action to free up more visas in time to help secure a successful spring. Hopefully, Secretaries Nielsen and Acosta will heed the call.”

AmericanHort and partners in the H-2B Workforce Coalition have been working diligently to encourage DHS and elected officials to address the demand for temporary, seasonal workers. This strong show of bipartisan support is an acknowledgement of those efforts.