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US to add 30,000 seasonal worker visas as soon as this week

In this April 25, 2017, photo, Stephen Faulkner, far left, owner of Faulkner's Landscaping and Nursery, installs an irrigation system alongside workers Gonsalo Garcia, center, and Jalen Murchison, right, at a landscape project in Manchester, N.H. The Trump Administration is making 30,000 more temporary visas available for seasonal work through the end of September. According to a copy of the rule obtained by The Associated Press, the visas, known as H2-Bs, will go to foreign workers who have held them before over the last three fiscal years for jobs like picking crabs, shucking oysters or seasonal hotel work. They will become available when the temporary rule is published as early as Tuesday. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
In this April 25, 2017, photo, Stephen Faulkner, far left, owner of Faulkner's Landscaping and Nursery, installs an irrigation system alongside workers Gonsalo Garcia, center, and Jalen Murchison, right, at a landscape project in Manchester, N.H. The Trump Administration is making 30,000 more temporary visas available for seasonal work through the end of September. According to a copy of the rule obtained by The Associated Press, the visas, known as H2-Bs, will go to foreign workers who have held them before over the last three fiscal years for jobs like picking crabs, shucking oysters or seasonal hotel work. They will become available when the temporary rule is published as early as Tuesday. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) In this April 25, 2017, photo, Stephen Faulkner, far left, owner of Faulkner's Landscaping and Nursery, installs an irrigation system alongside workers Gonsalo Garcia, center, and Jalen Murchison, right, at a landscape project in Manchester, N.H. The Trump Administration is making 30,000 more temporary visas available for seasonal work through the end of September. According to a copy of the rule obtained by The Associated Press, the visas, known as H2-Bs, will go to foreign workers who have held them before over the last three fiscal years for jobs like picking crabs, shucking oysters or seasonal hotel work. They will become available when the temporary rule is published as early as Tuesday. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

By Associated Press 4 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration plans to allow 30,000 more foreign workers temporarily into the United States for seasonal work through the end of September, a move that reflects how the booming economy has complicated President Donald Trump’s efforts to restrict legal immigration.

Details of the plan were in a draft rule obtained by The Associated Press. It would benefit oyster shucking companies, fisheries, loggers and seasonal hotels, including Trump’s own Mar-a-Lago club – all of which use the visas to hire migrants for temporary work they say Americans won’t do.

The visas, known as H-2Bs, will be granted only to returning foreign workers who have had the visa before, over the last three fiscal years. Many of the visa holders return to the same employers year after year. Those workers have already been vetted and are trusted and not likely to stay past their visa, officials said.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin taking applications from employers on behalf of the workers once the temporary rule is published in the Federal Register, expected on Wednesday.

The strong economy has made it increasingly difficult for employers to find labor, and the number of seasonal visas has been capped at 66,000 per fiscal year — a figure some businesses and lawmakers say is badly outdated, especially when the unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in 49 years .