BANGOR – Farmers, forestry companies, and hotel and restaurant owners voiced continued frustration Tuesday with the costs and bureaucracy they encounter when applying for visas for temporary guest workers.

About 100 government officials and migrant and immigrant worker representatives, employers and service providers gathered for the daylong conference to discuss the support available for employers. The Maine Department of Labor and the Division of Migrant and Immigrant Services sponsored the Post-Season Forum at the Sea Dog Banquet and Conference Center.

A panel of representatives from the hospitality, forestry and agricultural industries discussed the challenges they face annually as they recruit, house and transport workers. Nonagricultural employers said they have been consistently short-staffed since the government imposed in 2004 an annual cap of 66,000 visas for seasonal foreign workers.

“Using the H2A [visa] program is a source of extreme stress within the employer operation,” said Judy Dimock, owner of North Star Orchards in Madison. “We might make a misstep, forget to do something, ask the wrong question, and we face legal action or severe fines.”

Joel Swanton, a manager for Holden-based Forest Resources Association, said that tighter Homeland Security policies are making it more difficult to hire temporary forestry workers from Canada.

“This has nothing whatsoever to do with immigration. These people come to work and go home,” Swanton said.

Employers seeking to bring foreign workers into the U.S. must receive certification from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Division of Foreign Labor Certification. While some application

requirements vary depending on industry and length of employment, all employers must demonstrate that there are insufficient qualified U.S. workers available.

“It’s not that Maine people don’t want to work. People in Maine do want to work, but we can’t pay their health care … and I can only employ them for eight weeks,” said Karen Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath in Harrington.

Between 6,000 and 10,000 temporary foreign workers come to Maine each year to make Christmas wreaths, plant trees, and harvest potatoes, blueberries, apples, broccoli, cranberries and eggs, according to Leslie Manning, deputy director of the Bureau of Labor Standards. Work seasons exist year-round, Manning said.

Juan Perez-Febles, director of the state Division of Migrant and Immigrant Services, said about 96 percent of temporary guest workers in Maine are from Mexico. The rest come from Central American countries and Canada, he said.

George Kincannon, work force development specialist for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, said he could not comment on the concerns voiced by the panelists but encouraged employers to contact their legislators.

More information on the legal process of hiring foreign workers in Maine can be found at www.maine.gov/labor/laborlaws/migimmsvs.html#hiring.