H2B Work Visa Problems In 2007

H2B Work Visa Problems In 2007

The general idea of the H2B work visa is it is specifically created for those who would like to come, on a temporary basis, into the United States to work. The workers use the visa to come to the United States to work in non-agricultural jobs such as

factories or in larger manufacturing company jobs. The workers that are already in United States can not fill these jobs. It then becomes necessary for immigrant workers to fill them.

The H2B visa is primarily for unskilled foreign professionals like ski resort workers, amusement park employees, cab drivers, tourism employees, etc. Those already working in United States are exempted from the new financial year?s quota. The visa can be issued by employers related to non-agricultural field. This type of visa primarily helps to fill in the employment requirements that have seasonal or intermittent needs. It even helps those employers who need an extra helping hand during the peak load season like tourism industry requires more unskilled workers during summers. Employer?s that have an occasional or even one time need also benefit from the H2B visa.

This visa can is issued for a period of one year but can be extended to anther three years duration. However, the

immigration authorities keep a close scrutiny on such cases. People working under H2B visa need to file the application six months prior to the beginning of the proposed employment. Such workers can also bring their spouses and an unmarried child less than twenty one years of age. The family members are issued H4 or dependant visa and they are not authorized to work.

Every year, the United States grants over sixty-six thousand of these immigrants an H2B work visa. To be able to apply for one of this H2B work visas, you must be able to travel into the United States for temporary or seasonal jobs of a non-agricultural nature only. The type of job you are applying for can not be for farming as is the usual occupation of immigrant workers. This job must be offered by a United States employer and no immigrant employer. The skills, background, and abilities needed for the job or requested by the employer, must be possessed by the applicant before the visa application is started. Unskilled and skilled workers are all eligible for the H2B work visa.

When you begin to understand the description and function of the H2B work visa, you can begin to understand the problems that were encountered with it in the last half of the fiscal year of 2007. Each year, sixty-six thousand workers are eligible for the work visa. The cutoff for the application of a worker for the H2B work visa is every six months. Each of the two fiscal halves of the year allows only thirty-three thousand of those workers to get accepted. These fiscal halves run from October through April and April through September. This specific application can be filed with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service or the (USCIS). The USCIS allows you to file up to six months before you want to start the job. Before that filing can occur, it is necessary for the applicant to receive a Labor Department Certificate. This particular certificate can be gained within four months of the start date of the job. This certificate was the root of the problems for the last half of the 2007.

Immigration lawyers assist the immigrant workers in filing any and all paperwork that is necessary to get the visa. Many of those immigrants who were seeking jobs did not get the filings completed in time. The immigration lawyers could not get the paperwork finished because the labor Department certificates were late. Apparently, the Labor Department has regulations for their agency that do not permit the acceptance or denial of the certificates to take longer than a two month time frame. This regulation was not followed through within the months of March and April of 2007. With the delay in the Labor Departments decisions, it caused the lawyers to be thirty days behind in filing the application for the visa itself. The chain reaction, that was a result of the late filings, caused over two thousand of the immigrant workers who had not been in the United States previously, to get denied for the initial thirty-three hundred allowed for the final half of the fiscal year of 2007.

The amount of workers that did not get accepted for the visa, cause the United States corporations and companies to start searching for those workers who had already received their H2B work visa from within the past three years. It is imperative that the maximum amount of workers needed is found as soon as possible. The Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act also known as the (SOS) gave these employers the right to bring the other previous immigrant workers with three years experience into the country to fill the vacancies. These workers are not under the sixty-six thousand fiscal year limit. These particular immigrant workers were brought in from every avenue that could be legally found to be used. They are now replacing all the new vacancies that could have been filled with new immigrant workers had the delay not occurred.

The sad fact of all these unfortunate circumstances is the amount of workers that are needed for this years work load will not be found in time. For example, the tourism industry has been hit due to the H2B visa cap. It also holds a considerable potential to create challenges in the upcoming fiscal year also.

This loss of workers could have a detrimental effect on the ability of the American work force to function to the fullest extent that it should be running at. The loss of jobs and bankrupt companies may result from this loss of employee visas. It is necessary for these immigrant workers that already have an H2B work visa to be found quickly and put into one of these positions immediately.

Since the problems have occurred within this old system, there are changes that are being made to correct and compensate for the shortage. The STRIVE Act or the Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act, has been introduced as a reform bill that is under the bipartisan rule. This act will supposedly create and allow for the foreign immigrant workers to come into the United States as it does with the H2B work visa. The difference is this new visa would allow the workers to stay for a maximum of three years instead of the previous one year time frame. It also allows the workers to apply for another three years by gaining an extension on their existing visa. This new type of visa would be known as the H2C visa.

Moreover, the US congress has made new provisions to the spending bill and has exempted non-agricultural workers from the 66000 cap to return to previous job or the employer. The summer hospitality industries and seasonable industries have welcomes the provision. The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA) also expressed their enthusiasm about the unveiling of the STRIVE act.

The yearly amount of workers allowed into the United States would also change from the sixty-six thousand and increase to three hundred and twenty five thousand. Within the following year, a twenty percent rise in that higher number may be approved. This could result in changes being made as soon as 2008. It may, however, not be soon enough for the problems that will be faced for this year?s employment. The official schedule for the STRIVE act is as yet not determined. It is still to be debated sometime in spring 2007.

This new worker quota amount would definitely take care of the amount of workers that are required to fill the shortage. It would also allow for the many workers to be able to stay in the United States two years longer resulting in fewer filings each year. It would all but eliminate the problems that are being faced this year.

Until then we would advise using companies such as Osrec, we are working with one of the very best H-2B attorneys in America and we have never been left with unfilled labor certifications when the cap hit. There are ways to get ahead of the pack who are chasing the 33,000 visas every fiscal year.
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For more information about H-2B and H-2A staffing services please click here. Mostafa El Awady, Online Researcher, Writer and Publisher.

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