U.S. boosts seasonal worker visas

Resorts such as Mar-a-Lago will benefit

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.