Taking advantage of the “must-pass” omnibus federal spending bill for fiscal year 2018-2019, advocates for the H-2B guest-worker visa program managed to get an extension of the authority for the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security to increase the 66,000 statutory cap on H-2B visas. This provision is like one that was included in last year’s spending bill.

Increase not automatic

The increase in visas is not automatic. Under the provision, the Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen must determine, in consultation with the Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, that there is economic need. If the Homeland Security Secretary determines that there is need, she has the authority to increase the cap up to the number of visas issued in 2007, or about 128,000.

Too little, too late

Last year, the process of determining need and issuing an increase in the cap took then Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly until July. Since the authority expires at the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, there was little time left on the clock to save the season for most landscape contractors needing workers. In addition, the increase was only for an additional 15,000 visas.

Attention focuses on Homeland Security

The attention of advocates for the H-2B program, such as AmericanHort and the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP), now focuses on encouraging the Homeland Security Secretary to speed up the process for increasing the available visas.

Advocates are hopeful that, having gone through the process last year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be able to do the coordination with the Labor Department and issue the increase in a more timely manner this time around.

Demand far exceeds the number of visas

The H-2B visa cap of 66,00 is split in half, with the first tranche of 33,000 allocated to the first half of the federal fiscal year and the other 33,000 for the second half. Demand is so great for H-2B workers that DHS announced on December 21 that it had reached the Congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the first half of this year, less than two and a half months into the fiscal year.

On Feb. 21, DHS began receiving H-2B visa applications for the second half of fiscal year 2018. In five days, DHS received applications from businesses for 47,000 visas for the 33,000 available visas. The available visas were assigned randomly by DHS to applicants.

What’s down the road?

The landscape industry seems to be stuck in a situation akin to Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day.” Each year we seem to be successful in getting some relief from the H-2B visa cap, only to find ourselves having to go back and do it all over when the fiscal year ends. The amount of volunteer and staff advocacy efforts and resources that are committed each year to simply trying to maintain the status quo are enormous. This annual push prevents those resources from being used to secure longer-term solutions to the seasonal labor problem.

OK, I’m now taking a deep breath…

Here is what we need to do

First, we need to muster our efforts to convince the Homeland Security Secretary to raise the cap under the authority just given to her. A number of senators have drafted a letter to Secretary Nielsen urging her to quickly raise the cap. Advocacy organizations such as AmericanHort and NALP played a large role in getting senators to sign on to that letter. Call your senator and urge him or her to call Secretary Nielsen.

Second, call your senator and let him or her know the harm that this guest-worker situation is having on your business. Ask them to urge their leadership to move on the “Save our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2017” (S. 792). This bill would provide the permanent cap relief our industry needs. The bill has been sitting in the Senate Judiciary Committee since March 2017 with no action.

Third, call the staff at AmericanHort (202-789-2900) and NALP (800-395-2522) and thank them. I’m in touch with them on a frequent basis and I know how hard they work every day against great odds for our industry. It’s only through their relentless work, backed by their landscape contractor members that we got any H-2B cap relief this year.

Last, check out “Groundhog Day.” Even if you have already seen it it’s a good laugh, something we all need right now.