May 19, 2008
Denied | Visa rule changes leave seasonal businesses scrambling for staff
By Kerry Elson
Jack Burke is worried. Burke, owner of The Pentagoet Inn in Castine, opened for the season May 2 with only one employee, though he needs five to keep the 16-room property running.
For the last seven years, Burke has hired Jamaicans with temporary H2B work visas ˆ which allow foreign nationals to work in the United States in nonagricultural seasonal, intermittent or one-time employment ˆ "out of absolute desperation," he says, because he says no one locally will take housekeeper and line cook positions.
But this year, Burke can't rehire his regulars because Congress in October decided business owners like Burke have to reapply every season for H2B visas, and the country's limited supply of those visas this year is already spoken for. Problems obtaining visas this year mean the seasonal businesses like The Pentagoet Inn that form the backbone of the economy in parts of the midcoast and York County are understaffed as the summer season gears up.
The visas are given out twice a year on a first come, first serve basis. From Oct. 1 to the end of March, 33,000 workers with H2B visas are allowed into the United States, and another 33,000 are allowed in from April 1 to Oct. 1. Businesses can apply up to 120 days before they'd need workers to start. To beat the competition, Maine businesses that need summer help either have to say they'll employ H2B workers starting April 1 ˆ when there still could be snow on the ground ˆ or wait a few weeks and risk losing out on the visas.
To help states like Maine, Congress in 2005 passed a law exempting H2B workers who come back each year from the 66,000 limit. But that exemption expired last October, and attempts in Congress to renew it have failed. As Maine businesses had worried, the quota was met Jan. 2 this year before some local businesses could apply. In 2008, the U.S. government will grant foreign worker visas for 66,000 workers, down from the estimated 118,000 to 130,000 who entered the country last year under the old rules, according to U.S. Department of State.
"Employers are scrambling to find anyone to fill the positions," says Gail Rioux, a foreign labor agent in Fort Kent. Her company, Lew & Rioux & Co., this year processed foreign labor applications for 46 Maine timber companies seeking 601 harvesters. She submitted the applications in mid-January, even though the cap was filled. "There's always a chance that the bill will come up on the floor and the [U.S.] Senate will take a vote on it," she explains.
Drastic staff shortages
This year, 118 Maine companies filed paperwork to hire 2,041 foreign workers, says Jorge Acero, employment and training specialist at the Maine Department of Labor. Applying businesses included those in the hospitality and timber industries as well as wreath-makers and maple syrup producers.
The MDOL does not track how many Maine companies receive visas, nor does the state department, but anecdotal evidence suggests some Maine businesses this year didn't receive all the H2B visas they asked for. To compensate, some businesses are hiring foreign workers who spent the winter at ski resorts in the Northeast or hotels in the South, and who are therefore eligible to extend the H2B visas they already have for up to one year.
The new H2B visa rules concern some high-level politicians. On April 28, Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and 16 state governors sent a letter to Congress asking lawmakers to renew the returning worker exemption for another year. Gov. John Baldacci did not sign the letter, according to David Farmer, Gov. Baldacci's spokesperson, because, Farmer wrote in an e-mail, "our focus is on the state level and helping to connect workers to employers."
Meanwhile, Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Olympia Snowe in late January signed letters calling on President George W. Bush and Senate leaders to renew the exemption for returning workers, though the issue still was being considered by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee as this issue of Mainebiz went to press, according to Jen Burita, Collins' press secretary.
Jody Arsenault, human resources manager at The Cliff House resort in Ogunquit, is hiring 20 foreigners who worked at Vermont ski resort Okemo Mountain this past winter because she didn't get the visas to rehire the 35-40 Jamaicans who typically complete her summer staff of 175-200 people. While Arsenault says she's glad to find the Okemo workers, hiring them is still a gamble. "Hopefully the ones we get have some experience in the areas they're assigned to," she says.
Jean Ginn Marvin, innkeeper at The Nonantum Resort in Kennebunkport, feels the same way. To fill 24 open positions this season, Ginn Marvin went to a job fair in Florida for workers with H2B visas. But by early May, she'd only filled 16 positions. "It's made it impossible for us to do any planning, which in this business you have to do," she says. Hiring people locally would be easier, but not many locals apply. "Truthfully, we prefer Americans to do our work, but they're not interested in doing dishes and cleaning," she says.
This summer, Jack Burke will run The Pentagoet with his wife and an assistant manager. With this skeleton crew, Burke says he can open only four of the inn's 16 rooms to preserve the quality of guests' stay. "If we don't have full staff, we don't have good service. If you don't have good service, they don't come back," he explains. But limiting his revenue by shuttering most of the inn isn't good either. "If I cannot open up all my rooms," he says, "I can't make my mortgage."
For the last seven years, Burke has hired Jamaicans with temporary H2B work visas ˆ which allow foreign nationals to work in the United States in nonagricultural seasonal, intermittent or one-time employment ˆ "out of absolute desperation," he says, because he says no one locally will take housekeeper and line cook positions.
But this year, Burke can't rehire his regulars because Congress in October decided business owners like Burke have to reapply every season for H2B visas, and the country's limited supply of those visas this year is already spoken for. Problems obtaining visas this year mean the seasonal businesses like The Pentagoet Inn that form the backbone of the economy in parts of the midcoast and York County are understaffed as the summer season gears up.
The visas are given out twice a year on a first come, first serve basis. From Oct. 1 to the end of March, 33,000 workers with H2B visas are allowed into the United States, and another 33,000 are allowed in from April 1 to Oct. 1. Businesses can apply up to 120 days before they'd need workers to start. To beat the competition, Maine businesses that need summer help either have to say they'll employ H2B workers starting April 1 ˆ when there still could be snow on the ground ˆ or wait a few weeks and risk losing out on the visas.
To help states like Maine, Congress in 2005 passed a law exempting H2B workers who come back each year from the 66,000 limit. But that exemption expired last October, and attempts in Congress to renew it have failed. As Maine businesses had worried, the quota was met Jan. 2 this year before some local businesses could apply. In 2008, the U.S. government will grant foreign worker visas for 66,000 workers, down from the estimated 118,000 to 130,000 who entered the country last year under the old rules, according to U.S. Department of State.
"Employers are scrambling to find anyone to fill the positions," says Gail Rioux, a foreign labor agent in Fort Kent. Her company, Lew & Rioux & Co., this year processed foreign labor applications for 46 Maine timber companies seeking 601 harvesters. She submitted the applications in mid-January, even though the cap was filled. "There's always a chance that the bill will come up on the floor and the [U.S.] Senate will take a vote on it," she explains.
Drastic staff shortages
This year, 118 Maine companies filed paperwork to hire 2,041 foreign workers, says Jorge Acero, employment and training specialist at the Maine Department of Labor. Applying businesses included those in the hospitality and timber industries as well as wreath-makers and maple syrup producers.
The MDOL does not track how many Maine companies receive visas, nor does the state department, but anecdotal evidence suggests some Maine businesses this year didn't receive all the H2B visas they asked for. To compensate, some businesses are hiring foreign workers who spent the winter at ski resorts in the Northeast or hotels in the South, and who are therefore eligible to extend the H2B visas they already have for up to one year.
The new H2B visa rules concern some high-level politicians. On April 28, Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and 16 state governors sent a letter to Congress asking lawmakers to renew the returning worker exemption for another year. Gov. John Baldacci did not sign the letter, according to David Farmer, Gov. Baldacci's spokesperson, because, Farmer wrote in an e-mail, "our focus is on the state level and helping to connect workers to employers."
Meanwhile, Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Olympia Snowe in late January signed letters calling on President George W. Bush and Senate leaders to renew the exemption for returning workers, though the issue still was being considered by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee as this issue of Mainebiz went to press, according to Jen Burita, Collins' press secretary.
Jody Arsenault, human resources manager at The Cliff House resort in Ogunquit, is hiring 20 foreigners who worked at Vermont ski resort Okemo Mountain this past winter because she didn't get the visas to rehire the 35-40 Jamaicans who typically complete her summer staff of 175-200 people. While Arsenault says she's glad to find the Okemo workers, hiring them is still a gamble. "Hopefully the ones we get have some experience in the areas they're assigned to," she says.
Jean Ginn Marvin, innkeeper at The Nonantum Resort in Kennebunkport, feels the same way. To fill 24 open positions this season, Ginn Marvin went to a job fair in Florida for workers with H2B visas. But by early May, she'd only filled 16 positions. "It's made it impossible for us to do any planning, which in this business you have to do," she says. Hiring people locally would be easier, but not many locals apply. "Truthfully, we prefer Americans to do our work, but they're not interested in doing dishes and cleaning," she says.
This summer, Jack Burke will run The Pentagoet with his wife and an assistant manager. With this skeleton crew, Burke says he can open only four of the inn's 16 rooms to preserve the quality of guests' stay. "If we don't have full staff, we don't have good service. If you don't have good service, they don't come back," he explains. But limiting his revenue by shuttering most of the inn isn't good either. "If I cannot open up all my rooms," he says, "I can't make my mortgage."
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