By Dale J. Venturini
President & CEO, Rhode Island Hospitality & Tourism Association
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has received enough H-2B visa petitions to meet this year’s congressionally mandated cap of 66,000 new workers and will no longer accept any new H-2B petitions.
Since then, RIHTA has received numerous phone calls from business owners who will be severely short staffed this summer because the cap was reached so quickly and unexpectedly. According to current federal regulations, business owners must file completed petitions 120 days prior to the worker entering the United States. Many business owners were caught completely off guard by the announcement that no more petitions would be accepted, and now have no recourse to hire seasonal immigrant employees.
In Rhode Island, where hospitality and tourism accounts for the second largest industry in the state, restaurateurs and hoteliers rely on the hard work and dedication of immigrants, many of them returning to Rhode Island’s resorts and restaurants from their home countries year after year, to make their summer tourism season a success. With a restricted amount of skilled workers this summer, hospitality and tourism businesses could encounter intense competition among other businesses scrambling to fill positions, resulting in a negative effect on revenues.
Part of the problem in hiring summer workers is the longer length of the summer travel season. What was once a three-month season has expanded into a half-year enterprise, starting as early as May and running as late as November. With students returning to school in mid-August, many summer hospitality positions are unsuitable for their schedules.
For many a summer season, the solution to staff shortages in Rhode Island—and throughout the country—was the recruitment of skilled immigrant workers. In fact, foreign workers have become so integral to the success of the restaurant industry, that the industry has become the nation’s largest employer of immigrant workers. Immigrants have contributed significantly to the hospitality and tourism industry in an arrangement that is mutually beneficial - employers gain reliable workers, and the workers gain experience and make more money then they would in their native countries.
If your business is facing a shortfall and skilled and qualified labor because of the H2B Visa cap, please call or write your US Senator/Congressman and urge them to raise the H2B Visa cap on temporary employees.
How to contact your US Senator and Congressman:
US Senator Lincoln Chafee Since then, RIHTA has received numerous phone calls from business owners who will be severely short staffed this summer because the cap was reached so quickly and unexpectedly. According to current federal regulations, business owners must file completed petitions 120 days prior to the worker entering the United States. Many business owners were caught completely off guard by the announcement that no more petitions would be accepted, and now have no recourse to hire seasonal immigrant employees.
In Rhode Island, where hospitality and tourism accounts for the second largest industry in the state, restaurateurs and hoteliers rely on the hard work and dedication of immigrants, many of them returning to Rhode Island’s resorts and restaurants from their home countries year after year, to make their summer tourism season a success. With a restricted amount of skilled workers this summer, hospitality and tourism businesses could encounter intense competition among other businesses scrambling to fill positions, resulting in a negative effect on revenues.
Part of the problem in hiring summer workers is the longer length of the summer travel season. What was once a three-month season has expanded into a half-year enterprise, starting as early as May and running as late as November. With students returning to school in mid-August, many summer hospitality positions are unsuitable for their schedules.
For many a summer season, the solution to staff shortages in Rhode Island—and throughout the country—was the recruitment of skilled immigrant workers. In fact, foreign workers have become so integral to the success of the restaurant industry, that the industry has become the nation’s largest employer of immigrant workers. Immigrants have contributed significantly to the hospitality and tourism industry in an arrangement that is mutually beneficial - employers gain reliable workers, and the workers gain experience and make more money then they would in their native countries.
If your business is facing a shortfall and skilled and qualified labor because of the H2B Visa cap, please call or write your US Senator/Congressman and urge them to raise the H2B Visa cap on temporary employees.
How to contact your US Senator and Congressman:
170 Westminster Street
Suite 1100
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 453-5294
US Senator Jack Reed
201 Hillsdale Rd.
Suite 200
Cranston, RI 02920
(401) 943-3100
Congressman James Langevin
249 Roosevelt Avenue
Suite 200
Pawtucket, RI 02860
(401) 732-9400
Congressman Patrick Kennedy
300 Centerville Road
Suite 200
Warwick, RI 02886
(401) 729-5600
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