Eagle County companies that are busy in the summer with landscaping, paving and other work were supposed to have some additional seasonal help by now.
It hasn’t arrived yet.
A delay by the federal government in releasing more temporary work visas — called H-2B visas — is hitting local businesses hard.
Michael Hasse, of Double M Asphalt & Coatings, says he’s missing five to seven of his usual seasonal workers. Thatap left the staff on hand — including Hasse — working long, hard days in a season thatap dependent on warm temperatures.
Mike Stephens, of SHC Nursery and Landscape, said he’s missing about 20 people this summer, and has missed them for nearly two months now.
Both businesses depend on seasonal foreign employees who use seasonal visas to work legally in this country.
There’s long been a cap on those visas — only 33,000 every six months.
In March, Congress approved an increase in the number of visas issued. But Amy Novak, an immigration-employment attorney in Vail, said the federal bureaucracy has delayed issuing those thousands of visas.
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