Department of Homeland Security to issue additional visas for summer season

The Department of Homeland Security has indicated that it will authorize an additional 35,000 H-2B visas for the summer season, according to the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, a decision that could ease some strain on trainers facing labor shortages.

According to the NTRA, the department communicated its intent to issue the additional visas to congressional leaders on Thursday morning. The first batch of 20,000 supplemental visas will be issued for workers starting April 1, and a second batch of 15,000 visas will be issued for start dates beginning May 15.

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Many trainers rely on H2-B visas to hire grooms and hotwalkers. Under the program, workers are required to return to their home countries, and employers must pay the workers the same or more as their lowest paid U.S. employee.

The NTRA said that the DHS “will generally limit” the supplemental visas to workers “who are known to follow immigration law in good faith.” The issue of immigration and guest workers is a fraught topic for the current White House administration, though congressmen of both parties have quietly urged immigration authorities to at least hold the line on guest-worker visas due to the heavily reliance of many industries on the employees.

Last year, Congress passed a bill extending a measure that allowed the DHS, in consultation with the Labor Department, to issue additional visas above the 66,000 annual cap. It authorized 30,000 of the additional visas last year.

“Hopefully, this will provide relief to horse trainers who continue to struggle to hire foreign workers for backstretch positions that U.S. citizens are not filling,” said Alex Waldrop, the president of the NTRA, in a statement. “While this number of supplemental visas is 5,000 greater than in Fiscal Year 2019, it is likely to fall short of demand.”