Van Hollen, Cardin Announce Availability of Nearly 65,000 Additional H-2B Visas for Fiscal Year 2025 to Support Maryland Seafood Industry

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin (both D-Md.) announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will release an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for fiscal year 2025, on top of the Congressionally mandated 66,000 H-2B visas that are available each fiscal year. The Senators worked to secure language within the temporary government funding bill passed in September to provide DHS with the authority to release these additional visas and joined a bipartisan group of their colleagues last month in urging DHS to use that authority.

“The small businesses on the Eastern Shore that drive our local seafood industry can’t survive if they can’t hire enough workers. The H-2B program has long been essential for that purpose, which is why we’ve worked to make more visas available to fill positions as the next crab season begins. These new visas are critical to helping meet the needs of these local businesses, and we urge DHS to ensure they are allocated appropriately for our seasonal seafood needs. We will also continue pressing forward with our efforts to pass a permanent, narrowly tailored fix for the H-2B program to better support Maryland’s seafood processors while supporting American jobs. Improving the reliability of the H-2B program – along with our ongoing fight to protect workers – is key to the long-term success of our treasured seafood industry,” the Senators said.

Last year, Senator Van Hollen was joined by Senator Cardin and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in introducing the Save Our Seafood Act, which will ensure Maryland seafood companies can hire the seasonal workforce they need to operate at full capacity by exempting seafood processors from the current annual 66,000-visa cap on the H-2B program.

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