U.S. boosts seasonal worker visas

Resorts such as Mar-a-Lago will benefit

July 18, 2017 01:10 am | Updated 01:10 am IST - Washington

President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

The Trump administration announced on Monday an increase in seasonal worker visas that U.S. resorts depend on, but the move halfway through the summer is unlikely to alleviate a nationwide shortage.

Holiday vacation destinations around the U.S., including President Donald Trump’s own Mar-a-Lago country club in Florida, depend on tens of thousands of temporary workers in the summer and winter, many of them young people from eastern Europe and Asia.

Not enough

Some 66,000 ‘H-2B’ visas were allocated for this summer, and resorts from Maine to Florida along the U.S. east coast have complained they don't have enough. On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it would allow another 15,000 workers this fiscal year, but only for businesses “likely to suffer irreparable harm” without them.

Given the 30-60 day processing time, the move is unlikely to help many, tourism officials said. The DHS blamed the lateness of the move on Congress’s slow action to approve a budget, finalised only in May.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.