H-2B Visas | Horse Racing Free Tips

H-2B Visa Cap Met for First Half of FY 2023

Edited Press Release from NTRA

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Wednesday they have received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated cap on H-2B visas for temporary nonagricultural workers for the first half of fiscal year 2023. USCIS will reject new cap-subject H-2B petitions received after Sept. 12, 2022 that request an employment start date before April 1, 2023. With many in the Thoroughbred industry relying on H-2B visas, we are sharing this for your information.

USCIS will continue to accept H-2B petitions that are exempt from the congressionally mandated cap. This includes petitions for:

Current H-2B workers in the United States who extend their stay, change employers, or change the terms and conditions of their employment;
Fish roe processors, fish roe technicians, and/or supervisors of fish roe processing; and
Workers performing labor or services in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam from Nov. 28, 2009, until Dec. 31, 2029.

U.S. businesses use the H-2B program to employ foreign workers for temporary nonagricultural jobs. Currently, Congress has set the H-2B cap at 66,000 per fiscal year, with 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the first half of the fiscal year (Oct. 1-Mar. 31) and 33,000 (plus any unused numbers from the first half of the fiscal year) for workers who begin employment in the second half of the fiscal year (Apr. 1-Sept. 30).

NTRA will continue to advocate before Congress for the passage of permanent solutions to temporary worker issues in the Thoroughbred industry.

For more information, visit the Cap Count for H-2B Non-immigrants page.

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Departments of Homeland Security, Labor Adding 20,000 H-2B Visas

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) have agreed to offer 20,000 additional H-2B visas to employers for positions starting on or before March 31, 2022. These visas are used by employers, such as racehorse trainers, who seek seasonal guest workers.

“This addition of H-2B visas is helpful for the horse racing industry, as we continue to see high demand for workers by employers,” said NTRA president and CEO Tom Rooney. “At the same time, the NTRA supports relief from the burdensome annual H-2B visa cap to enable affected employers to stabilize their businesses through a permanent returning worker exemption. We urge both departments to permanently reform the program.”

DHS is also providing additional flexibilities to H-2B petitioners under its general programmatic authority by allowing nonimmigrant workers in the United States in valid H-2B status and who are beneficiaries of non-frivolous H-2B, to begin work with a new employer after an H-2B petition is filed and before the petition is approved, generally for a period of up to 60 days. This provision clarifies portability eligibility for beneficiaries of pending petitions.

Of these additional 20,000 visas, 6,500 are reserved for nationals of the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala and 13,500 for returning workers.

The H-2B visa guest worker program is a nonimmigrant visa program used by many industries that need temporary non-agricultural help when domestic workers are unavailable. For the horse racing industry, trainers rely heavily on the H-2B program to fill various backside positions.

For more information, view the temporary final rule in the Federal Register.

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Additional H-2B Visas for Fiscal Year 2022

Edited press release

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) have agreed to offer 20,000 additional H-2B visas to employers for positions starting on or before Mar. 31. These visas are used by employers, such as racehorse trainers, who seek seasonal guest workers.

“This addition of H-2B visas is helpful for the horse racing industry as we continue to see high demand for workers by employers,” said NTRA President and CEO Tom Rooney. “At the same time, the NTRA supports relief from the burdensome annual H-2B visa cap to enable affected employers to stabilize their businesses through a permanent returning worker exemption. We urge both departments to permanently reform the program.”

DHS is also providing additional flexibilities to H-2B petitioners under its general programmatic authority by allowing non-immigrant workers in the United States in valid H-2B status and who are beneficiaries of non-frivolous H-2B to begin work with a new employer after an H-2B petition is filed and before the petition is approved, generally for a period of up to 60 days. This provision clarifies portability eligibility for beneficiaries of pending petitions.

Of these additional 20,000 visas, 6,500 are reserved for nationals of the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala and 13,500 for returning workers.

The H-2B visa guest worker program is a non-immigrant visa program used by many industries that need temporary non-agricultural help when domestic workers are unavailable. For the horse racing industry, trainers rely heavily on the H-2B program to fill various backside positions.

For more information, view the temporary final rule in the Federal Register.

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New NTRA President, CEO Tom Rooney Joins Writers’ Room

It's a hell of a time in racing to become the new head of one of the sport's foremost national organizations, but new National Thoroughbred Racing Association president and CEO Tom Rooney says he's ready for the challenge. Wednesday morning, the former U.S. congressman joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland's final show of 2021 as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss what the NTRA's top priorities will be under his stewardship, how his previous experience on the Hill can benefit the industry, what he thinks the NTRA's role should be in racing's ongoing public relations battle and much more.

“One of the things I think the board of directors wanted when they brought me on was to really sharpen our focus in Washington, D.C.,” Rooney said. “So much so that we're going to be opening an office there to make sure that I'm back in front of my old colleagues on a daily basis to make sure they don't forget about this issue or that issue. Specifically, the big issues that we deal with are the tax code, immigration–H-2A and H-2B visas for both at the farms and at the track–those are hugely important issues for keeping the trains running on time. And one of the things that I'm very excited about and looking forward to working on very closely is sports betting as it becomes more and more legalized across the United States and includes more sports. We used to be the only game in town when it came to legalized gambling, but now horse racing is separate from the other sports you might find on DraftKings or FanDuel, so if my son, who's in college, is putting a $20 bet on the 76ers and the Packers and wants to boost with a bet on the Breeders' Cup Classic, he can't necessarily do that because of the way everything is set up. We have to make sure–and I'm not sure this is a legislative fix yet–to be in that ballgame if we want to have a new generation of horseplayers. I think I would be neglectful in my job if I wasn't making sure that the one sport that was legal [to bet on] all along continues to be at least part of that game going forward, so I'm going to be working hard on that.”

Asked what he thinks the NTRA's role will be in trying to win the narrative in the court of public opinion when catastrophe strikes, as it so often has recently, Rooney said, “I think it's going to be absolutely huge. Publications and media outlets look for a response from somebody, and we just hired a new communications director who is going to be starting this month, and we are hopefully going to be one of the go-to voices in response to [crises]. For all those people who get up at God knows what hour every day and go down to the racetrack or the farm barn or cover this stuff like you do and want the sport to be successful and something we can be proud of, I think they're sick of being lumped in with this idea that we're all a bunch of cheaters who are drugging horses and don't really care about them and are just using them for our personal benefit. I just don't believe that, and I'm looking forward to being the voice to push back against that. Now, if something went wrong, there also has to be accountability on our side, which is a good thing. [Calfiornia] Senator [Dianne] Feinstein wrote a letter saying she wants transparency and thoroughness in the process [of investigating Medina Spirit's death]. Great. We agree. We want that too. One of the first things I learned in Congress was that you cannot let an accusation that harms you or your constituency go [unanswered], because if you do, it's almost an admission that what they're saying is right. You have to respond. And sometimes the response is tough love. But I think it's incumbent upon groups like the NTRA to make sure that the public has the other side of the story.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, West Point Thoroughbreds, XBTV, Lane's End, Three Chimneys, Hill 'n' Dale and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers discussed the impending sentencing of the Jorge Navarro and, in their year-in-review segments, picked their favorite races and biggest stories of 2021 as well as what horses they're most looking forward to seeing in 2022. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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