The Biden Administration also announced on October 12, they will make available to employers nearly 65,000 supplemental H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for fiscal year (FY) 2023, on top of the 66,000 that are normally available each year. The H-2B visa provides for the temporary admission of foreign workers to the United States, if unemployed U.S. workers cannot be found.

H-2B workers are not limited to a particular set of occupations. In recent years the H-2B worker perform a number of jobs. The top positions include maids and housekeeping cleaners, amusement and recreation attendants and meat, poultry and fish cutter and trimmers. Foreign medical graduates coming to perform medical services are explicitly excluded have been excluded from the H-2B visas.

LeadingAge is working to expand the H-2 visa program and have an “H-2Age” bill introduced in Congress. The draft bill would create a new temporary aging services worker visa category. Additionally, LeadingAge is supporting the Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act (H.R. 7239), that expands the H-2 visa program, and allows foreign workers to come to the United States to fill “essential jobs” that don’t require a college degree.