H-2B Visas

The Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP) released the following response to President Trump's announcement that no new H-2B visas would be issued in 2020: "On Monday, June 22, 2020, President Trump issued an order that extends the federal government's suspension of new H-2B visas, as well as other work visas, through the end of the year. This order, as with the previous order issued in March, claims to open up new jobs to Americans during a time of record unemployment. However, when it comes to the Kentucky horse industry, this...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security communicated to Congressional offices its intent to release 35,000 additional H-2B visas for the summer season of Fiscal Year 2020. This non-immigrant visa program is used by many industries that need temporary non-agricultural help when domestic workers are unavailable. For the horse racing industry, racehorse trainers rely heavily on the H-2B program to fill various backside positions. While DHS has not yet released a final rule outlining specific details, the agency has provided the following: Federal regulators will release the supplementals in two phases....