New regulations for H-2B visas, AirPlus benefits domestic and foreign workers

New regulations for H-2B visas, AirPlus benefits domestic and foreign workers (Alberta Times) The U.S. Department of Labor announced new regulations for H-2B visas last Friday (10th), influenced by...

(Alberta Times)

The U.S. Department of Labor announced new regulations for H-2B visas last Friday (10th), which were welcomed by foreign workers and those who support the new regulations. People who agree with the new law believe that employers will not be able to exploit foreign workers, and at the same time, they will not be able to use foreign workers to reduce job opportunities for American workers. H-2B is a foreign labor visa issued to people who come to the United States to engage in non-agricultural, temporary technical and unskilled work. The U.S. Department of Labor will implement new H-2B visa regulations on April 23 this year to safeguard the rights and interests of foreign workers and protect American workers from being impacted by the old H-2B visa and losing employment opportunities. However, U.S. employers are generally not optimistic about the new regulations, believing that the new regulations will lengthen the application process for foreign workers’ work visas, fail to meet the demand for seasonal workers in a timely manner, and will ultimately reduce the job opportunities for foreign workers in the United States. Seasonal workers are mostly provided by small and medium-sized enterprises such as fisheries, seafood processing, amusement parks, hotels, and gardening projects. Employers in these industries are the main applicants for H-2B foreign worker visas. According to the new regulations, employers must register online the work items and number of foreign workers who require H-2B visas through the electronic transmission registration website established by the Ministry of Labor. However, employers must first recruit qualified American workers three weeks before registering online to apply for an H-2B visa, and give priority to providing employment opportunities to American workers. In the past, when employers applied for H-2B visas for foreign workers, they only had to briefly state on the application documents that they were seeking American workers; but now, according to the law, employers must provide proof to the local State Workforce Agency to prove that they cannot find American workers before they can apply for an H-2B visa. In terms of protecting foreign workers, the new regulations require employers to pay 50% of the transportation costs for foreign workers to come to the United States. If the foreign workers have performed all the work in the employment contract or are fired early by the employer, the employer should pay the transportation costs and visa fees for the foreign workers to return to the country. In addition, the new H-2B visa law stipulates that employers should pay in advance at least three-quarters of the salary of the foreign worker during the employment period, even if there is no job to provide the foreign worker during the employment period. This requirement is also the item that American employers have the most backlash against and consider unreasonable.