The H-2B visa is for non-agricultural guest workers who work mostly in the hospitality sector in the United States.
The Donald Trump administration has silently rolled back the less-targeted visa program and has regained its cut, as the president’s private companies largely rely on workers coming to the US on that visa.
While the H-1B visa program is often maligned for abuse and fraud, the H-2B visa program allows guest workers to come to the United States to work for a limited period of time. These are intended for non-agricultural workers who work in hotels and similar businesses. Late last year, the administration announced it would cut H-2B visas by half, the Wall Street Journal reported. But the administration quietly returned to the current quotas in January after a crucial meeting in Florida. Bernd Lembke, a former manager of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and Peter Petrina, a longtime Mar-a-Lago member, convinced the president that the hospitality industry needed more workers before the peak winter and spring tourist season. Trump companies also relied on this visa program to hire temporary foreign workers. The report said that Trump took the pressure seriously and contacted his advisors and asked them to expand allocations for the H-2B visa program.
When the Wall Street Journal reached out to the White House about the rapid changes to the H-2B visa program, they said it was done because the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration had led to the work authorization of more than 1 million immigrants being revoked by terminating their temporary legal statuses. “The Trump administration’s first priority is to protect American jobs and wages, while appropriately responding to the demands of President Trump’s rapidly growing economy,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said.
What is an H-2B visa?
Since 2016, Congress has appropriated 33,000 visas for the winter and summer employment seasons for a total of 66,000 visas. The law allows the president to nearly double that number if he determines the economy can use the additional visa slots.This program is used by landscapers, fisheries and vacation towns where they cannot find enough Americans willing to work just a few months a year. The Trump administration announced on December 31 that it would grant only 35,000 additional visas for fiscal year 2026, far less than the maximum 65,000 visas allowed by Congress. Two weeks after the January meeting at Trump’s golf club in Florida, the administration changed course, saying it would authorize an additional 64,716 H-2B visas for the fiscal year, the Wall Street Journal reported.
