Foreign workers visa cap hits state Federal rule to choke tourism, logging

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BANGOR – The state’s tourism and logging industries are bracing for another season without the help of many of the foreign workers they have relied on in the past.

A federal cap on the number of H-2B visas issued to foreign workers was reached last week with very few visas being issued to people who will work this year in Maine.

Now, Maine’s two senators are crying foul over how the visas are distributed nationally, and the state’s two major industries are scrambling to find ways to get seasonal help.

“We’ve been basically excluded at this point,” Sen. Olympia Snowe said during a recent interview. “It’s not fair for Maine industries to be excluded from the H-2B program.”

Last year, the cap of 66,000 workers was met in March – three months later than this year – but it was enough to cause some harm. Because of a shortage of workers, wood prices skyrocketed and restaurants and hotels reduced their hours of operation or opened later in the season.

This year, both industries are trying to be creative in finding workers, including calling former American employees and asking whether they can spare an hour or two a day.

The H-2B visa program allows businesses to hire foreign workers if they cannot find any Americans to fill the jobs. The foreigners work for one employer for up to 11 months beginning Oct. 1, the start of the federal year, and then they return home. They are allowed to switch employers if the federal government approves the change. For instance, a foreign worker employed at a Colorado ski area may transfer to Maine for the summer.

Businesses either fill out the visa applications or they hire agencies to do that work for them. The application process can take several months and includes a requirement that the businesses advertise and try to hire American workers first.

One catch in the federal H-2B visa law is that the applications can be received by the Immigration and Naturalization Service only 80 days before the workers’ employment start dates. Therefore Southern states, with tourism seasons that start several months before Maine’s, can apply earlier and collect most of the visas, as was the case this year. Disney properties, for example, require more than 10,000 of the 66,000 visas.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Snowe said. “It’s unreasonable that there hasn’t been some flexibility in the way these visas are equitably disbursed.”

The visa cap wasn’t an issue until last year, when the federal Department of Homeland Security noticed the cap and required that it be enforced.

Maine’s tourism industry two years ago had 3,000 foreign workers. Last year, it was about 1,000, and this year it’s expected to be 500 or fewer. Logging requires 800 foreign workers, all from Canada.

“I would say about 500 have probably made it,” said Vaughn LeBlanc of the Maine Department of Labor, who screens H-2B visa applications to ensure that American workers couldn’t be found for the jobs before the requests are turned in to the federal government.

Any changes to the visa program – such as raising the federal cap or distributing the visas on a quarterly basis to all regions of the country – may be slow in coming.

Immigration issues, such as stemming the flow of illegal immigrants and restraining terrorism, are hot topics in Washington, D.C., and many representatives and senators are opposed to letting in any more people because they are concerned about homeland security.

Sen. Susan Collins said she shares her colleagues’ concerns about illegal immigration and protecting the country from terrorists. But, she said, aligning those fears with the H-2B visa program is the wrong thing to do.

“There’s a real regional equity issue here,” Collins said. “There are some Southern Republican senators who are simply opposed to any more foreign workers coming into the country.”

She said many of the H-2B visa workers entering the country are repeat users of the program. They have been coming to the United States for several consecutive years and typically work for the same employer each time. Their backgrounds have been screened, and when their jobs are done, they return home.

“It’s ironic that here we have foreign workers who have been playing by the rules and have always returned to their home country and they are treated more harshly than those who are not playing by the rules,” Collins said.

Making any changes to the H-2B visa program will require a unanimous vote, and the problem becomes one of trying to convince Southern congressional members that there’s a fairness issue between Southern and Northern states and the way the visas are distributed.

“[Opposition] comes from states that truly don’t understand what the system is all about,” Snowe said.

Both senators acknowledge that it may be too late to help the logging and tourism industries through legislation this year. But, they said, they want to make sure that, next year, any Maine business that needs a foreign worker will be able to go through the application process without fear of the cap being met.

“I can’t predict for you whether I’ll be successful,” Collins said. “Immigration issues are tough right now.”

Dick McLaughlin, owner of the Lobster Pound Restaurant in Lincolnville, said he believes that any returning foreign workers should not be counted against the cap, only foreigners wanting to enter for the first time who need to be screened. They are reliable and are not a threat, he said. Snowe and Collins said they agree with McLaughlin and are trying to push his idea through Congress.

“It’s their livelihood as well as our need,” said McLaughlin, who in the past has had four foreign workers and this year may have just two.

While the federal government is imposing the cap, after years of not doing so, it also is raising the rate for processing visa applications, McLaughlin said.

Because businesses know there are only so many visas to go around, the federal immigration service started a “premium service” to process some applications more quickly than others. The “premium service” costs $1,000 instead of the typical $300 fee and there is no guarantee that a visa will be administered after the process is completed, McLaughlin said.

“I have to send in $1,000 and face being denied,” he said. “You just hold your fingers crossed that you’re not losing $1,000.”

In the meantime, businesses are developing strategies to get through this year. Logging and tourism industry representatives met with staff members from Collins’ office this week.

Tourism industry representatives will be meeting with Maine Department of Labor officials on Feb. 4 to come up with ways to attract more Maine workers to jobs at restaurants and hotels, said department spokesman Adam Fisher.

Dick Grotten, executive director of the Maine Restaurant Association, who will attend the meeting, said hotel and restaurant owners will have to be creative to fill jobs or the industry will suffer this year.

The dramatic reduction in foreign workers has made the situation dire.

“We have the tables, we just don’t have the people,” Grotten said. “Rooms in hotels may not be filled.”