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US Increases Number of H-2B Visas By 15,000 (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: President Donald Trump has said he's going to set more limits on the H-1B visa program, which allows tens of thousands of technology workers into the U.S. each year. But yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security moved to expand another type of visa, the H-2B, which allows lower-skilled workers in on a seasonal basis. The Department of Homeland Security said yesterday it is going to allow an additional 15,000 workers to come in under the H-2B visa category, which is typically used by U.S. businesses in industries like tourism, construction, and seafood processing. The program normally allows for 66,000 visas, split between the two halves of the year. That means the DHS increase, announced yesterday, represents an increase of more than 40 percent for the second half of 2017. Businesses can begin applying for the additional visas right away, as long as they attest under penalty of perjury that their business will "suffer irreparable harm" if it can't employ additional H-2B workers in 2017. The expansion is a temporary one, and it only applies to the current year.
The H-2B visa is used extensively by Trump's own businesses, including his Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida. During the presidential campaign, Trump explained his use of H-2B visas by saying that "getting help in Palm Beach during the season is almost impossible."
I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
The H-2B visa is used extensively by Trump's own businesses, including his Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida. During the presidential campaign, Trump explained his use of H-2B visas by saying that "getting help in Palm Beach during the season is almost impossible."
"... at the wage and benefit levels we are offering"
"getting help in Palm Beach during the season is almost impossible."
That's not the whole story. Here are the con artist's own words about using H-2B quotas at Mar-a-Lago:
"It's almost impossible to get help," the Republican presidential candidate told CNN last month. "And part of the reason you can't get American people is they want full time jobs."
Oh the horror. Americans wanting full-time jobs. But then, being the con artist, you don't suppose he's lying, do you? The next two paragraphs:
That is news to Tom Veenstra. He is senior director of support services at the Palm Beach County CareerSource office. It's a free service that links qualified job candidates with employers. And during the past two years, the agency has placed more than 50,000 people in jobs in Palm Beach County. Veenstra says he has no doubt he could fill Mar-a-Lago with U.S. workers.
"We have hundreds of qualified candidates for jobs like these," Veenstra told CNN. "That's what we do here. We help place local residents into jobs like those."