H–2 Improvements to Relieve Employers Act
Latest action · Jul 18, 2023 Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJul 18, 2023
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
H-2 Improvements to Relieve Employers Act or the HIRE Act
This bill addresses issues relating to temporary work visas, including by extending the period of stay for H-2A (temporary agricultural workers) and H-2B (temporary nonagricultural workers) visas.
Under this bill, the period of stay for an H-2A or H-2B visa shall generally be three years, whereas under current law, these visas are typically valid for up to a year with extensions available for one-year periods for up to three consecutive years. Specifically, this bill establishes that labor certifications and petitions for such visas shall be valid for three years. (Under current regulations, the period of stay for an H-2A or H-2B visa is for the validity period of the underlying petition and supporting labor certification, with some additional time to allow the visa holder to relocate to and from the United States.)
The bill also authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to waive the in-person requirement for an individual seeking to renew an H-2A or H-2B visa within four years of the expiration of the earlier visa.
The Department of Labor must publish on its website information on the number of seasons during which an employer expects to have seasonal employment available, if the employer requests such information.
Cosponsors 37
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jul 18, 2023 to Mar 22, 2024; 16 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-NH | Chris Pappas | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| D-FL | Darren Soto | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| R-CA | David G. Valadao | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| R-NE | Don Bacon | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| D-TX | Henry Cuellar | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| R-GU | James C. Moylan | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| D-NJ | Jefferson Van Drew | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| R-CA | John S. Duarte | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| R-AZ | Juan Ciscomani | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| R-FL | Maria Elvira Salazar | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| R-NY | Michael Lawler | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| R-TX | Monica De La Cruz | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| R-NY | Nicole Malliotakis | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| D-MI | Shri Thanedar | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| R-OK | Stephanie I. Bice | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| D-TX | Vicente Gonzalez | Original | Jul 18, 2023 |
| D-NH | Ann M. Kuster | Jul 19, 2023 | |
| R-OR | Lori Chavez-DeRemer | Jul 19, 2023 | |
| D-MD | David J. Trone | Jul 25, 2023 | |
| D-NC | Kathy E. Manning | Jul 25, 2023 | |
| R-NC | Chuck Edwards | Aug 25, 2023 | |
| R-IN | Larry Bucshon | Aug 25, 2023 | |
| R-TX | Nathaniel Moran | Aug 25, 2023 | |
| D-NC | Wiley Nickel | Sep 5, 2023 | |
| R-IN | James R. Baird | Sep 13, 2023 | |
| R-PR | Jenniffer González-Colón | Sep 13, 2023 | |
| R-TX | Morgan Luttrell | Sep 18, 2023 | |
| R-IN | Rudy Yakym III | Sep 27, 2023 | |
| R-OH | Bill Johnson | Oct 2, 2023 | |
| D-PA | Chrissy Houlahan | Oct 2, 2023 | |
| D-MI | Elissa Slotkin | Oct 18, 2023 | |
| R-CA | Young Kim | Nov 8, 2023 | |
| D-MN | Dean Phillips | Dec 6, 2023 | |
| R-PA | Lloyd Smucker | Jan 10, 2024 | |
| R-PA | Daniel Meuser | Jan 11, 2024 | |
| D-IL | Jonathan L. Jackson | Feb 13, 2024 | |
| D-IL | Raja Krishnamoorthi | Mar 22, 2024 |
Committees 2
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Judiciary Committee | Referred Jul 18, 2023 |
| House | Education and Workforce Committee | Referred Jul 18, 2023 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jul 18, 2023Introduced in House
- Jul 18, 2023Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 169, no. 123, July 18, 2023, page H3701.
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To streamline the issuance of nonimmigrant temporary work visas, and for other purposes.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- H–2 Improvements to Relieve Employers Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Immigration.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jul 18, 2023Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
