Originally Posted by
chgoeditor
My family used to own a home in northern Michigan on Little Traverse Bay. It is a vacation destination where the population grows significantly with the arrival of people who have summer houses or just want a vacation in the area. For years, a number of the larger establishments brought in servers and others in the hospitality industry from Jamaica in particular, because they could not find local staff for the season. I can't remember what the visa type is, but a lot of larger restaurant groups and hotels seem to use it when there are local staffing shortages.
I think it's probably the H2B visa for hospitality workers. As someone stated above, when millions of people became unemployed during the start of the pandemic, the prior administration put a freeze on these visas - I believe it was frozen in summer 2020, maybe limited somewhat before that. By law, H2B visas can only be offered if there are no qualified US workers available for the job. So it kind of made sense with all the hospitality workers that lost their jobs then. It's probably a bit of a moot point right now, as most US borders are still "closed" anyway because of COVID. And then of course the enhanced unemployment benefits contribute to US workers not applying for these jobs. At this point, with things re-opening, it likely makes sense to end any COVID benefits and restart the H2B program. Maybe both have been done already...I'll admit I haven't paid close attention. Just what I recall from last year.