Visa provision is sunsetting

To the editor:We spend so much time worrying about illegal immigration that we neglect those hard-working immigrants who follow the rules and those employers who depend on their labor to help them through the seasons

We are at an important date for ALL H-2B visa employers: On Sept. 30 the provision that allowed H-2B visa recipients who had come to the U.S. on a previous H-2B visa to not count against the numerical cap limiting the number of H-2B visas available to 66,000 is sunsetting.

This could prove as disastrous as it did a few years ago when the cap was reached a few months into the visa availability.

Businesses whose seasonal needs started in March and April were left with having to find an alternate means of finding workers to replace the H-2B visas they weren't going to be getting.

I remember the frantic calls from clients (and the newspapers) worried about what could be done.

The Save our Small and Seasonal Business Act of 2007 was introduced by U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland in March. This bill would extend the exemption of returning workers from the numerical limitations for H-2B temporary workers for five years. U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan introduced a similar bill in the House of Representatives. However, his bill would make the exemption permanent.

Please contact your federal legislators today and tell them to save our small and seasonal businesses.

IAN THOMAS HARDIN, Cape Girardeau