H-2B Cap Looming Closer

 

The H-2B seasonal guest worker program?EUR??,,????'???s access to this legal source of temporary workers is close to being severely limited for the first half of fiscal year 2006.

The Federation of Employers and Workers of America (FEWA) is advising its members that program statistics released by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) indicate that 28,015 of the 33,000 H-2B worker visas available in the first half of fiscal year 2006 have been approved or are pending approval as of October 23, 2005. The remaining 33,000 visas will not be available to employers until April 1, 2006.

?EUR??,,????'??Thanks to the efforts of the H-2B Workforce Coalition, which FEWA co-chairs, employers will still be able to bring in qualified workers even after the cap is reached,?EUR??,,????'?? said John Meredith, FEWA vice president of government relations.

Meredith?EUR??,,????'???s reference is to a provision in the Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2005 enacted earlier this year. The new law provides workers who participated in the H-2B program in any one of the last three fiscal years an exemption from the statutory cap. These returning workers, designated H-2R, will be allowed to enter the country and work in temporary jobs that American workers do not take at anytime in fiscal year 2006.