Employers, workers anxious

Early applicants, such as Vail Resorts, owner of the Breckenridge Ski Resort and three similar facilities in Colorado, won approval for roughly 1,350 of the 66,000 available visas before many summer and fall seasonal businesses were even eligible to apply.

Now small business owners from all parts of the USA have mapped out a course of action. Dozens traveled to Washington before the Easter congressional recess to lobby for passage of the "Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act," an emergency plan introduced by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md.

The plan, introduced in companion Senate and House measures, would create a two-year period to overhaul the visa program. During that time, foreign employees who had worked in the USA with H-2B visas during at least one of the past three years would be exempt from the 66,000 quota.

"Without these temporary workers, many businesses could be forced to limit services, lay off permanent U.S. workers or worse yet, close their doors," Mikulski wrote in a statement announcing the Senate bill. "We can't let this happen."