WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) today announced they have secured as many as 64,716 additional H-2B visas to support small seasonal businesses in Maine, South Dakota and across the country. In a joint announcement from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the Secretaries have confirmed the release of supplemental H-2B visas for fiscal year 2026. The Senators requested the visas in a November 2025 bipartisan letter urging for the release of the maximum allowable number to support seasonal businesses, in addition to the statutory annual cap of 66,000 visas.

These supplemental H-2B visas will fill workforce needs for American small businesses that are unable to hire enough American workers to fill the temporary, seasonal positions. Bipartisan research shows employing these workers boosts wages across the board. Employers are required by law to make a concerted effort to hire American workers to fill open positions; when the local workforce is insufficient, the H-2B visa program is seen as a necessary tool to support local economies. With Maine continuing to experience a shortage of seasonal and temporary employees, these nonimmigrant visas provide a lifeline for the economy and ensure small businesses can meet the demand for their products and services.

“Chronic labor shortages—faced by seasonal U.S. employers throughout the nation’s history—have been exacerbated by the post-pandemic evolution of the American workforce. As this need grows, so does the pressure on U.S. workers, whose employers’ workforce needs cannot be met with American workers alone. The H-2B program places requirements on employers to recruit U.S. workers, who are intentionally prioritized by the program and receive demonstrated, positive impacts from their seasonal colleagues. In fact, a 2020 Government Accountability Office report concluded that ‘counties with H-2B employers generally had lower unemployment rates and higher average weekly wages than counties that do not have any H-2B employers.’ Issuing the extra discretionary H-2B visas in a timely manner will help alleviate these workforce shortages and, in doing so, will help create and sustain the jobs of American workers who rely on the H-2B workers to support their duties during their peak seasons,” the senators wrote in the November letter.

The Secretaries of Homeland Security and Labor responded, “The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor, is exercising time-limited Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 authority to issue up to, but not more than, an additional 64,716 visas for the fiscal year.”

King and Rounds were joined on the letter by U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Tim Scott (R-SC), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Michael Crapo (R-ID), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Barrasso (R-WY), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Steve Daines (R-MT), Jerry Moran (R-KS), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), John Thune (R-SD), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tina Smith (D-MN), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Peter Welch (D-VT), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Jim Risch (R-ID), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA).

You can find the Senators’ letter here and the announcement from the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Department of Labor here.

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