According to an official with the National Association of Landscape Professionals, the inability of Congress to renew the returning worker exemption for the H-2B program is directly related to why there have already been 82,100 petitions for the 33,000 visas available for work that begins in the second half of the year (April 1 – Sept. 30).

However, as reported by Roy Maurer of the Society for Human Resource Management, Paul Mendelsohn, vice president of government relations for the NALP, expects lawmakers to bring forth legislation soon that would renew it.

Even though the law allows that any extra visas left over from the first half of a fiscal year carry over to the second half, the cap for the first half of 2017 was reached so no extra visas will be available.

President Trump's former nominee to lead the Department of Labor, CKE Restaurants CEO Andrew Puzder, was a supporter of the H-2B program, which has been cited as a reason that numerous Republican senators claimed they would not support his nomination.