Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have adopted an amendment that – if passed into law – would vastly increase the number of seasonal migrant workers allowed into the United States every year.
Backers of the amendment say it is necessary to ensure stability for businesses that consistently bring in temporary foreign workers and reduce uncertainty within the H-2B visa system. Currently, the federal government allocates H-2B visa slots to employers through a lottery, meaning businesses have no guarantee on how many temporary workers they’ll be able to bring in every year.
“I can list countless employers who come to visit me every year and say, ‘What's going to be the situation? How many workers? Will I be able to get the number of people I need?’” Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) said in defending the amendment during the bill's markup. “I have examples of a family here who had a family-owned seafood restaurant for 17 years. They've been able to run their business [and] support local fishermen because they have H-2B workers.”
On 24 June, lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved an amendment to the Homeland Security Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2026 which would allow employers who have brought in H-2B visa workers in the past five years to bring back the same number of workers without it counting against the statutory nationwide cap – typically 66,000, though the government can opt to roughly double that.
The amendment rewards employers who are consistently bringing in seasonal migrant workers and complying with federal law, ensuring that they don’t need to stress every year about gambling on the lottery system.
“These are businesses that follow every rule. They hire American workers first, pay prevailing wages, and meet every federal requirement, but due to overwhelming demand and the outdated visa lottery system, many are being shut out of the H-2B program year after year,” U.S. Representative Chuck Edwards (R-North Carolina) said during the committee markup. “This amendment gives a lifeline to those who've demonstrated five consecutive years of full compliance by guaranteeing a set number of returning visas. This doesn't just help ...
