Additional H-2B Visas Made Available to Employers

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Labor issued a joint temporary final rule that was published today in the Federal Register and offers 22,000 additional H-2B visas to employers for the second half of the federal fiscal year that ends on Sept. 30. These visas are used by employers, such as racehorse trainers, who seek seasonal guest workers. They are capped at 66,000 annually, with an even split of 33,000 available for each half of the federal government's fiscal year. Six thousand of these supplemental visas will be reserved for nationals of the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. 

"The 22,000 H-2B visas offered through this rule issued by the DHS and DOL will be helpful to employers who rely on the H-2B visa program, including trainers, but many more of these visas are ultimately required to satisfy the need," said NTRA president and CEO Alex Waldrop. "For that reason, the NTRA, through its involvement in the H-2B Workforce Coalition, supports additional relief from the burdensome annual H-2B visa cap through a permanent returning worker exemption."

Employers can find eligibility and filing details online. 

This past December, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 became law and included a provision that provides the Department of Homeland Security with the discretionary authority to release an additional 64,176 H-2B visas when significant need is demonstrated. The NTRA supports all efforts to make additional visas available to seasonal businesses struggling with labor issues.

The H-2B visa guest worker program is a nonimmigrant visa program used by many industries that need temporary non-agricultural help when domestic workers are unavailable. For the horse racing industry, trainers rely heavily on the H-2B program to fill various backside positions.

Demand for H-2B visas often exceeds their availability and the cap level is quickly reached, leaving employers in need. For the second half of the federal fiscal year 2021, DHS announced that by Feb. 12 it had received enough H-2B worker petitions to reach the congressionally mandated cap of 33,000 visas allotted.

In a separate release, the Kentucky Equine Education Project, Kentucky's equine economic advocate, issued a statement in support of the release of H-2B visas: 

"The Kentucky Equine Education Project applauds the announcement by the United States Departments of Labor and Homeland Security that they will release an additional 22,000 H-2B visas for FY 2021," the statement read. "For Kentucky's racetracks and horse breeding operations, H-2B visas are a vital part of their workforce as Kentucky's horse industry faces perpetual labor shortages.

"However, these additional visas are not a substitute for a necessary overhaul of the H-2B visa program to meet the needs of our horse industry. KEEP will continue to call on the United States Congress to address the vast shortages of H-2B visas in future immigration legislation. 

"In addition to advocating for smart and sensible immigration reforms to address the Kentucky horse industry's labor shortages, KEEP has invested heavily in promoting career opportunities within the industry to Kentuckians in order to create a homegrown workforce. This partnership with the Kentucky Chamber Workforce Center has already yielded industry-changing initiatives and KEEP will continue investing in this critical work."