A massive delay in processing seasonal worker visa applications by the federal government is having a major impact on several businesses in Provincetown, Mass.
Many are resorting to sharing the few workers who have arrived, putting existing staff on multiple shifts and enlisting family and friends to fill in. Others have been unable to open.
“Some businesses are opening later because of help issues. It’s been hard on people who depend on H-2B,” said Candy Collins-Boden, executive director of the local Chamber of Commerce, referring to the type of visa application specifically for seasonal, unskilled workers.
Most of the immigrant workers, who hail from Jamaica, Eastern Europe and Mexico, normally arrive in April or May. While there are no estimates on how many Provincetown workers are being held up in their countries because the visa applications submitted by their employers are mired in a huge backlog at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), it appears to be substantial.
One example is Bubala’s by the Bay, which owner John Yingling said brings in 30 to 40 workers from Jamaica a year. As of this week, none had been granted visas, he said.
“We don’t have enough workers right now. The guys I’ve got are working more than they should be for their health,” Yingling said, adding, “We’ll be OK with what we’ve got until Memorial Day.”
Several smaller businesses are hurting as well. Darin Janoplis, one of the owners of the Mayflower Café, said the 11 workers he had hired for this summer haven’t arrived yet despite submitting his visa applications in December. As a result, he’s been pulling double duty since the restaurant opened two weeks ago.
“I’m grilling today and I will be for the foreseeable future,” he said, gesturing to the sputtering kitchen grill. “I usually do it at night but I’ll be doing it day and night.”
Linda Vital, owner of the Coffee Pot on Lopes Square, has hired four workers, two from Bulgaria, one from Jamaica and one from Mexico. None are here yet.
“We wanted them in April,” she said. “It’s a real problem.”
Vital and her husband, Nelson, are handling the work at the Coffee Pot themselves. However, when the season picks up and more tourists begin to arrive, it will be difficult to continue without help.
“It’s our own government doing this to us,” said Vital, fuming.
Provincetown is not alone in dealing with staffing delays. Jane Nichols Bishop, an international recruiter working with several Cape Cod businesses to meet their summer employee needs, said she was tasked with hiring 45 bus drivers for the Flex Bus summer schedule. As of now, she doesn’t even have a receipt from the DOL acknowledging that the immigration process has begun for the drivers, who must be trained before they can begin work.
And even after the DOL approves a visa, there are two other time-consuming steps that have to occur before a worker can book passage. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) must approve the visa and then the worker’s embassy must approve it, as well. Another hurdle is that some workers are being approved after the federal limit on the number of seasonal immigrant workers has been reached, meaning they can’t come here at all this season, Nichols Bishop said.
“The cap of 33,000 [summer] seasonal workers was met on March 16. Most people don’t get approval until April,” she complained.
Yet another twist is that the DOL appears to be denying applications from some restaurants that had been approved in previous years. Lenny Enos, owner of the Surf Club, had his visa applications for 20 workers denied entirely despite filing the same type of application for the past 10 years. He has appealed the decision to the USCIS; appeals usually win only about 15 percent of the time, however, according to Nichols Bishop.
Enos said he would figure out a way to survive if his applications are not granted.
“You make do. You have to,” he said.
Yingling said if his workers have not arrived by Memorial Day, he will improvise.
“I’ve got five kids and a wife. Everyone can cook. That’s a [kitchen staffing] line right there,” he said.