MAINE, USA — With Maine's tourism season extending to the holidays, leaders in Congress are pushing for more allocations of H-2B visas to address workforce shortages.
Announced this week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Department of Labor will now allot an additional 64,000 H-2B visas for the 2024 fiscal year.
"This is something that a group of us, particularly from states that have big hospitality industries, have been working on for years," U.S. Senator Angus King said, who helped push for more allotments alongside Senator Susan Collins.
The additional visas will add to an original 66,000 congressionally-mandated allotment each fiscal year.
Although the allotment is spread across many states, King estimates an additional thousand visas could head to Maine.
"This is a big deal. this is almost a doubling of the amount of available slots," King added.
Industry stakeholders in Maine say with the growing need for additional hands during winter months, especially for skiing destinations, the new allotment may help remedy unfilled positions.
According to the Maine Department of Labor, it has received more than 500 job orders from employers so far this year.
"[The program] is the glue that keeps the economy together going especially during the tourism and busy summer seasons," Nate Cloutier, director of government affairs at Hospitality Maine, said.
Cloutier, who oftentimes works with businesses looking to send in applications for the H-2B visas, says although the additional visas are good news the process could be streamlined better.
"There is a lot of uncertainty and business owners are holding their breath every year to make sure that the administration is going to release supplemental visas," Cloutier said. "If they miss a deadline by a few days or something like that, they are potentially out for the season and can't count on those workers."