March 31 2004

The H-2B visa is a category used for foreign workers hired temporarily to perform a variety of jobs that cannot be filled locally. These jobs include landscapers, food production workers, hotel workers, and others. They fill important seasonal niche occupations. For the first time since the program began forteen years ago, the 66,000 annual limit has been reached six months before the end of the fiscal year. The result is that employers who hire summer workers annually through the H-2B program are at risk of closing their doors.

To try to help these employers, bipartisan legislation introduced in the House and Senate, called "Save Summer Act of 2004," would provide an emergency increase for the current fiscal year. Such an increase reflects the need for an immediate fix.