Sen. Rounds teams up with West Virginia's Manchin to push back on fed's visa fee hike

Senators: Department of Homeland Security's proposed 266 percent hike will hurt small businesses

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds listen to testimony during a Senate committee. The Democrat and Republican have co-signed a letter urging the Department of Homeland Security to reconsider proposed visa fee increases it proposed in January. (Photo courtesy of the office of Sen. Mike Rounds)

Planned fee increases for nonimmigrant work visas will hurt small businesses.

That’s according to U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds and a bipartisan group of his colleagues, who Wednesday sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security calling for it to reconsider plans that would raise the cost of some temporary visas that many businesses, particularly in the tourism and agriculture industries, rely on to find workers.

“We strongly support making sure our law enforcement agencies have the necessary resources to protect our borders,” read the letter sent to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Ur Jaddou, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. “We are alarmed, however, that the fee increases will be particularly burdensome for small businesses relying on H-2A and H-2B nonimmigrant visas to meet their workforce needs. As you know, we are at a time when many in our country are suffering from a severe labor shortage and persistent inflation. It is irresponsible to so drastically increase the price to access these essential guest worker programs while doing nothing to increase their availability.”

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