Today, Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, announced an additional 15,000 H-2B temporary nonagricultural visas will be available for Fiscal Year 2018. DHS had been under political pressure to release additional H-2B visas by businesses and industry groups citing labor workforce needs. Groups had been calling for the immediate release of additional H-2Bs to help meet workforce needs in the tourism industry, among others.
While Congress granted the authority to DHS to lead a federal process determining H-2B visa availability, the Secretary continues to urge Congress to address the H-2B program and reform current law to establish such visa availabilities in the future.
The DHS release on the announcement can be found here and is as follows-
|