Funding Bill Provides Option for Limited H-2B Relief

The horse racing industry received encouraging news on the foreign seasonal worker front in the $1 trillion spending bill hammered out by Congressional leaders April 30.

The industry knew it was going against the political tide in working toward a provision that would not count previous H-2B visa workers against the yearly cap of 66,000 such seasonal work visas. While that exemption was not included in the spending bill that funds the government through September, the final funding bill at least provides a possible option to increase the number of visas that often are used by backstretch workers.

NTRA president Alex Waldrop said bill language they’ve seen provides the secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the secretary of Labor, the authority to nearly double the H-2B cap when it’s determined there is an economic need.

"It limits the total number of H-2B workers that may enter the U.S. during fiscal year 2017 to 129,547," Waldrop said, a number that would count new and returning workers. "After the bill becomes law, all industries relying on H-2B workers, including the horse industry, will have to work with the administration to encourage the Secretary of Homeland Security to implement this provision."

Horse racing is just one of many industries that relies on the H-2B visa program, joining businesses such as landscaping and seasonal resorts. Congress in 2016 failed to renew the "returning worker exemption" that permits H-2B workers from the previous three years with clean records to enter the country again without counting against the 66,000 cap. That exemption had effectively raised the number of workers under H-2B from 66,000 to approximately 190,000.