US government to nearly double temporary visas for non-agricultural jobs

Twenty thousand of the H-2B visas will be granted to workers from the Central American countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala as well as Haiti

The Biden administration will nearly double the number of temporary work visas for jobs involving hospitality, landscaping and seafood-processing as it looks to address seasonal shortages employers have been scrambling to make up for.

The move would allow 64,716 nonagricultural H-2B visas in addition to the 66,000 currently available each fiscal year, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Wednesday evening, adding that it was “acting swiftly to address employers’ needs for additional seasonal workers.” The government’s fiscal year began on Oct. 1.

Twenty thousand of the H-2B visas will be granted to workers from the Central American