'Changes the game': The US adds 40,000 H-2B visas for seasonal workers

If you own a business on Cape Cod, the federal government delivered an early Christmas present Monday as the departments of Homeland Security and Labor announced an increase of 20,000 H-2B visas for the first half of 2022.

U.S. Rep. William Keating, who has been working closely with the Biden administration on lifting the cap on seasonal workers, said Monday there will be another 20,000 added in the second half of the year, when the Cape's seasonal economy most needs them.

"This is happening within a time frame where businesses make business decisions," said Keating. "This is what we've been pushing for for years."  

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Barnstable County adds over 23,000 jobs at the peak of the summer season, a 27% jump in employment over the dead of winter, according to Cape Cod Commission data.

Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce CEO Paul Niedzwiecki said foreign workers have become an increasingly important component of that seasonal labor pool, accounting for around 5,000 workers mainly under two programs, the H-2B temporary non-agricultural worker visa and the J-1 foreign student visa. 

The H-2B cap was set at 66,000 workers nationwide last year. The new cap would be 104,000 workers, according to Keating. Other revisions included 13,500 jobs set aside for returning H-2B workers and the provision that unused jobs from the first half of the year could be rolled over into the second half, just in time for the Cape's seasonal economy. 

"This really is a huge deal. It changes the game," said Mac Hay, owner of Mac's Seafood. With five seafood markets, five restaurants and a wholesale seafood business, Hay has over 300 employees, including anywhere from 80 to 100 H-2B and J-1 visa workers. 

Seasonal labor shortage

There's no question the labor shortage on Cape has gotten worse due to the housing crisis and the pandemic. Many Cape restaurants and businesses operated on shorter hours or fewer days a week, even at the height of the summer season because they didn't have enough staff.

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"My restaurants were closed for meal periods last year because we didn't have the staff," Hay said. "Less volume of business means less for everybody, less food ordered, less taxes to the state and towns, and a diminished experience for those who come here." 

According to the Chamber of Commerce, in 2018 direct tourism spending in Barnstable County was $1.32 billion, supporting 10,844 travel-related jobs and $357.7 million in wages. The seasonal economy generated $133 million in state and local taxes.

Hay said he appreciated the work of Keating and his staff to secure the increase and other changes. He would like to see further reforms to the H-2B program.

"There is no question this is a step in the right direction, but let's be realistic about how big a step this is," he said. Hay said he would like to see the system revert to when the government gave an exemption to workers who had returned to work at the same company for three years or more. The business could plan on them coming back and these employees didn't count against the annual cap.

"It allows our workers to know they can come back and for us to know that they can go home and we can get that worker back," he said. It gives the business some stability, said Hay.

The DHS said that it intended to issue a separate notice for proposed rulemaking it felt would modernize and reform the H-2B program.

Businesses can still wind up short-staffed

Peter Hall, owner of Van Rensselaer's restaurant in South Wellfleet, said the system is filled with uncertainty, with a lottery determining whether a business gets some, all, or none of the workers it needs every year. The business can put money into advertising and lodging to try and get J-1 and H-2B workers and wind up short.

"Last year our housing was half full, including American workers," Hall said. "It's a complicated process."

Many employers have to hire immigration lawyers to handle it and some Cape employers, including Mac's Seafood, head to Florida right after New Year's Day to recruit foreign employees who are working there and don't count against the cap. 

Niedzwiecki said Cape employers have to work fast to beat a New Year's Day deadline to have their applications filed for foreign employees in order to participate in the lottery. He said that while the timing on this announcement was earlier than expected, the real impact of the higher cap may not benefit businesses until 2023.

"The good news is they are at least looking forward into 2023 with a little more certainty," he said. 

Contact Doug Fraser at dfraser@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DougFraserCCT.