Cape Cod businesses worry about summer staffing under new visa limits
Many Cape Cod businesses owners are heading into the busy summer season understaffed following changes to a federal seasonal worker program, the Cape Cod Times reports. The national cap on visas for foreign workers under the H-2B program was reached on March 13, according to the Times, leaving many Cape and Island businesses unsure of what their staffing levels will be during tourist season.Maya Sparrow, owner of Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans, told the newspaper she was unable to get eight counter staff before the cap was reached. She said her H-2B workers from the Philippines, Jamaica, and Bulgaria, some of whom are second-generation staffers, are able to stay from April through the fall, longer than student workers. “I cannot imagine what it’s like without them,” Sparrow told the Times. “They are family really.”Sparrow and other business owners are hoping Congress will support an exemption put forward by Rep. Bill Keating that would allow returning H-2B workers to exceed the bi-annual cap.
