ELLSWORTH – More than 1,800 foreigners will spend the summer in Maine.

But they aren’t coming to shop at L.L. Bean or to hike at Acadia National Park.

Instead, they will work as chambermaids, dishwashers and sales people who support the state’s multimillion-dollar tourism industry.

Maine employers, particularly those on the coast, are increasingly looking overseas to fill their hiring needs. “The program has just mushroomed over the past couple of years,” said Vaughn LeBlanc of the state Department of Labor.

Still, places like Hancock County are just beginning to look at foreign labor as an option.

“It’s so hard getting good help – kids don’t want to work,” said Bonnie Young, who runs Ben & Bill’s Chocolate Emporium in Bar Harbor with her husband.

Last year it took 35 people to fill the 25 seasonal positions at her shop because so many employees quit or were fired, she said in an interview Tuesday.

This year, the Youngs have applied to hire eight foreign workers to serve ice cream and chocolate from June through October.

“It’s unfortunate that we have to go out of the country, but you’ve got to do something,” Young said.

A fellow business owner suggested looking into foreign labor to find temporary employees dedicated enough to work the busy summer evenings, weekends and holidays that make up the core of the Youngs’ business.

Part of the reason for the shift is Maine’s recent relatively low unemployment figures. In the past two years, unemployment in the Ellsworth and Bar Harbor area has been less than 3 percent.

In addition, some Mainers in other parts of the state apparently balk at relocating far from home for temporary work.

“They’re willing to work when it’s not convenient for local people,” said Josette Pettegrow of the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound, where on the advice of others she has applied to hire foreign workers for the first time this summer.

The college-age employees Ben & Bill’s has hired from Ireland, Romania and Russia were reliable to a fault and always showed up on time, Young said.

“They were everything you’d have wanted for an employee,” she said. “They want the dollar. That’s the bottom line right there.”

Because the changes to Maine’s labor market during the tourism season are so severe, the process by which foreign workers can apply for these temporary positions has been streamlined, LeBlanc said.

So LeBlanc, a migrant and immigrant labor specialist, was on the road Tuesday, explaining the changes to Hancock County business people at a forum sponsored by the Ellsworth Chamber of Commerce.

Businesses seeking to fill jobs for the period between April and November may apply through the Department of Labor to bring in foreign workers for entry-level positions under a program known as H2B, which regulates temporary, unskilled labor outside the agricultural sector.

The application is a single double-sided page, and there is no cost to the applicant until the Labor Department has granted its approval and sent information on to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, where a $110 fee is assessed, LeBlanc said.

Paperwork is minimal, and although some employers hire a lawyer to assist them, in-depth knowledge of immigration law is not necessary to complete the application, he said.

However, the process takes at least 60 days to complete.

Under the law, employers must give American workers ample opportunity to apply for openings before they pursue foreign labor, LeBlanc said.

A recruitment ad must run for three consecutive days in a newspaper of general circulation. If no qualified applicants are hired, the employer then may seek foreign help, he said.

The program was not designed to supplant the local work force, but to supplement it, LeBlanc said.

Employers are not responsible for paying a worker’s travel costs, nor are they responsible for providing housing, but many choose to make arrangements for their employees, particularly in areas like Mount Desert Island where affordable summer housing is scarce.

“It’s important that you kind of help them out,” LeBlanc said. “If you treat them right, they’re going to come back year after year.”

The major responsibility that an employer must accept in either case is actually finding and hiring the workers once labor and INS staff have approved their application.

“I do not have a list of foreign people. That’s up to you,” LeBlanc said.

Some advertise online, others hire through foreign labor placement agencies such as Labor Solutions Inc. in Skowhegan or Antioch Associates in Massachusetts, he said.

Foreign workers under H2B must be offered full-time employment at the same wages that Americans would be paid, and job descriptions must be written in very specific terms.

“It’s a big commitment. If someone is coming here, they have to be able to support themselves,” he said.

However, employers may hire part-time foreign workers under another Department of Labor program, a cultural exchange designed to bring students to America. This program is popular nationwide, so applications must be made well in advance of the hire date, LeBlanc said.

Several business owners feared running afoul of immigration law if their employees attempted to stay in the country illegally. But LeBlanc assured them that the INS is in charge of policing foreign workers once their terms of employment end.

“You hear the horror stories – people come over here and then blend into the woodwork – I don’t see that,” LeBlanc said. “In my experience, they come here to make some money, but they want to go home and spend Christmas with their families.”