It is critical elected officials continue to hear from GCSAA members about the need for immediate H-2B cap relief. The first 33,000-visa cap was reached on Dec. 15 and the second half cap will be reached soon.

Unless Congress acts promptly, many seasonal employers could be shut out of the H-2B program in 2018. Please ask your senators and representative to include H-2B cap relief in any upcoming appropriations bill and to speak personally to their party leaders about the need for cap relief.

Breaking news

• The DOL Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) says labor certification applications typically spike at the start of January for temporary and seasonal jobs in the spring and summer. The agency says it received an "unprecedented" number of employer requests for H-2B workers on Jan. 1, 2018, approximately three times greater than the number of applications received on Jan. 1, 2017, and more than two-and-a-half times greater than the 33,000 semi-annual visa allotment.
• The extremely high number of H-2B visa applications received has so overwhelmed the OFLC that it will process applications as they're received instead of in batches based on the day filed. DOL urges employers who want visas for the second allotment period, April 1 through Sept. 30, 2018, to apply immediately for a temporary labor certification and file a petition with the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service (USCIS), as required before the semi-annual visa cap of 33,000 is met.
• The processing change demonstrates the demand for H-2B visas remains high. In 2017, Congress did not extend the H-2B's returning worker exemption, which would have allowed H-2B workers from the 3 previous fiscal years to not count toward the annual 66,000 cap.

Specific actions to take now to secure H-2B relief

1. Please call your representative and senators at their Washington, D.C., offices and stress the need for immediate cap relief. GCSAA has created an action alert to help you with your outreach and an H-2B Leave Behind - 2018 you can use or share with at your facility.
2. Please call or visit in person with your senators and representatives at their district offices. You can find the local contact information for your senators and representative on their websites or through www.house.gov and www.senate.gov. Or e-mail Michael Lee to get help scheduling your district meeting.
3. Contact your customers, suppliers and vendors. Reach out to your full-time, year-round U.S. workers to get them involved too. Ask them to contact their member of Congress. They can also use the action alert and talking points document above.
4. Tweet at your representative and senators about the need for immediate cap relief using #SaveH2B. You can find their twitter addresses at: https://twitter.com/verified/lists/us-congress/members.
5. Call and e-mail the USCIS ombudsman's office and encourage the Department of Homeland Security to support H-2B cap relief. The email address is cisombudsman@hq.dhs.gov and the phone number is 1-855-882-8100.

H-2B employers: Share you story

GCSAA has received requests from the website The Hill and the think tank the Cato Institute to catalog specific business losses associated with a lack of H-2B workers due to the cap. If you are willing to share the impact of not getting H-2B workers last year or this year, please send Chava McKeel a short paragraph outlining the specific business loses and impacts to your American workers. Please also provide your name, company and title and let us know if we could share this information with the Hill and/or if you would be willing to speak to researchers from the Cato Institute. Cato is finalizing a report about the economic impact of the H-2B program based on the survey many of you completed late last year, but they would also like to speak to a handful of different employers in different industries to highlight a few case studies.

Take action on bills that would provide permanent cap relief

H.R. 2004 - Strengthen Employment And Seasonal Opportunities Now (SEASON) Act

S. 792 - Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2017>

Additional H-2B resources

• H-2B visa program overview
• GCSAA Priority Issues Agenda - Labor and Immigration
• GA blog: Sain, Helland Participate in H-2B Lobby Day in Washington
• GA blog: Colorado Superintendent Finds Success with Seasonal Workforce