Trump Slashes Supplemental Seasonal H-2B Work Visas by Half

The Trump administration is slashing by nearly half the number of supplemental temporary work visas available to seasonal employers in industries like landscaping and hospitality.

The Department of Labor quietly announced over the holidays that it will release 35,000 supplemental H-2B visas under a discretionary cap authorized by lawmakers. That decision follows three straight years in which the Biden administration released all 64,716 visas under the discretionary cap.

The H-2B program makes 66,000 visas available under a statutory cap each year, split evenly between winter and summer hiring seasons. Since fiscal year 2017, Congress has authorized the departments of Labor and Homeland Security to issue supplemental visas based on labor market conditions. Business groups have pressed those agencies to issue all of the available visas under the discretionary cap in recent years amid ongoing labor shortages in many industries.

The supplemental visas announced by the Trump administration are the lowest number since fiscal year 2021. The DOL said in a Dec. 31 announcement on its website that a temporary final rule authorizing release of the visas would be issued in the coming weeks.