2018 budget bill includes H-2B cap relief

This week, Congressional leaders agreed to include language in the 2018 budget bill that authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to issue additional H-2B visas. The National Association of Landscape Professionals said the language is identical to what was approved last year and grants discretion to the Secretary to issue additional visas up to the historic maximum number that were issued in a single year when a returning worker exemption was in place. 

NALP and other Workforce Coalition members spent several weeks advocating for the language to be included in the bill. According to NALP, “champions on Capitol Hill have indicated that they will quickly urge DHS to act expeditiously on the matter. We will keep members informed on next steps for engagement.”

“We were able to get basically the same language we had last year, which provides the Department of Homeland Security to issue additional visas if they think they are warranted,” said Paul Mendelsohn, NALP’s director of government affairs. “I think the fact that we were able to get any relief language in the omnibus is a recognition of the members of Congress that this is an important issue. So, the secretary can authorize up to the maximum amount that was issued last year, which is somewhere in the vicinity of 60,000 additional visas theoretically possible.”

In 2017, President Trump signed the spending bill on May 5 and the Department of Homeland Security did not take action to issue additional H-2B visas until July 18. When they did, Mendelsohn said it only issued an additional 15,000 visas. However, he said there is hope that more visas might go through in 2018 since the language is identical to last year. 

“We’re hoping this can be implemented quicker and that they will recognize the demonstrated need to authorize the maximum that Congress has allowed them to issue,” he said. “Last year was the first year they had language like this and it took a while to formally act on it. The Department of Homeland Security secretary was John Kelly, who is now Chief of Staff. He made it clear he did not like guest worker programs. Now, Kirstjen Nielsen is secretary and she hasn’t made comments on her stance formally. But, there are 90,000-plus visa applications that have been certified by the Department of Labor as meeting need requirements. So, we’re hoping (the department) will act quickly, but we don’t have any way of knowing what they are going to do.”

Mendelsohn said NALP plans to continue to work with its members and the Workforce Coalition to push the Department of Homeland Security to authorize additional visas as quickly as possible.