Mari Medrano

This article is presented in conjunction with “H-2B: The Basics” and “H-2B: The FEWA Perspective.” Finding employees has become one of the biggest issues in the landscaping industry, and H-2B has been both a saving grace and constant headache in this dynamic. H-2B, as everyone knows, is the controversial non-immigrant, non-agricultural visa that many employers throughout the U.S. use to bring in foreign labor to work for one-time occurrence, seasonal, intermittent, or peak time need. The program allows 66,000 visas per year: 33,000 for a first cap that covers the 4th and 1st quarters of the year; and 33,000 for a second cap that covers the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the year. However, H-2B has grown so popular that employers are left fighting for visas that fall extremely short of industry needs. My Experience As director of human resources at CoCal Landscape in Denver, CO, H-2B has been a huge part of my career. Though I had worked with the program before, in 2000 I was tasked with assisting our immigration attorney with bringing over 20 foreign workers on H-2B visas. I had no idea the amount of work the process required, but we went from those 20 people to a current total of 160 workers that come each year to work for CoCal.   As I write this article, I’m hoping my certification process gets granted with enough time before the second cap is met. Over these 20 years, I can honestly say no year is the same, ...