The Trump administration has moved to sharply reduce the number of temporary work visas available to seasonal industries, dealing a blow to sectors such as landscaping, hospitality, and tourism. These industries had benefited from expanded discretionary visa allocations during the Biden years.
The US Department of Labor said the new plan will release only 35,000 supplemental H-2B visas this year. That figure represents almost a 50 percent reduction from the levels approved over the past three years under the Biden administration.
In a related development, the Departments of Homeland Security and Labor said on January 6 that they will open an additional 35,000 H-2B visas for fiscal year 2026. These visas are intended to supplement the standard annual cap of 66,000 H-2B visas issued for temporary, non-agricultural workers.
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While the added allocation exceeds the usual yearly limit, it still represents a sharp pullback from recent years. Over the previous three fiscal years, nearly double that number of supplemental visas had been released to help employers cope with seasonal labor shortages.
During that period, the Biden administration made all 64,716 discretionary H-2B visas available to businesses facing staffing gaps, according to Bloomberg.
Under the H-2B program, 66,000 visas are issued each year under a statutory cap, divided equally between the winter and summer hiring seasons. Since 2017, Congress has given the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security the authority to release extra visas when labor market conditions warrant it.
Business groups have consistently pushed the agencies to use that authority to its fullest, arguing that additional H-2B visas are critical for filling persistent staffing gaps in industries that rely heavily on seasonal workers.
The 35,000 supplemental visas outlined by the Trump administration mark the smallest such allocation since fiscal year 2021. In a notice issued on December 31, the Department of Labor said a temporary final rule spelling out eligibility criteria and filing procedures would be released in the coming weeks.
“These visas will support American businesses with seasonal or temporary workforce needs in critical infrastructure sectors of the US economy, such as seafood, forestry, hospitality and tourism, transportation, and manufacturing,” the Labor Department said.
The H-2B program permits US employers, or their authorised agents, to hire foreign nationals for temporary, non-agricultural roles. Employers seeking to bring in workers through this route are required to file Form I-129, officially called the Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, on behalf of each prospective employee.
The H-2B visa program is subject to a statutory limit, or “cap,” on how many visas can be issued each fiscal year. Congress has set that cap at 66,000 visas annually. If any of those visas are not used during the first half of the fiscal year, they can be carried over and made available in the second half.
After the annual limit is reached, US Citizenship and Immigration Services can accept petitions only for workers who qualify for an exemption from the H-2B cap.