HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Department of Homeland Security is being asked to resolve what governor’s office calls a recent “uptick” in denials of foreign labor visa applications for Guam.
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero met with an acting under secretary at DHS on the matter, according to a press release from the governor’s office. She is currently in Washington, D.C. as part of her first off-island trip since the beginning of the Covid-19 public health emergency.
“In our discussion, I stressed the need for an immediate solution to the high rate of application denials for projects both inside and outside the fence and underscored the direct impact to Guam’s economic growth, especially at this pivotal time of rebuilding and recovery. The continued lack of skilled construction labor to complete these projects will result in increased construction, housing, and real estate costs,” Leon Guerrero stated.
A decrease in approved H-2B visas could also have budgetary impacts for the government of Guam. Fees collected by the local Department of Labor from companies that bring in foreign workers fund operations and job training programs.
GovGuam oversees around 1,500 foreign workers in a normal year, according to Greg Massey, administrator of the department’s Alien Labor Processing and Certification Division. Although more than 1,600 visas have been approved in so far, the budgeted estimate of foreign workers for fiscal year 2021 is 2,300, Massey told The Guam Daily Post.
The island is on track to meet that projection, but the Covid-19 pandemic slowed down the issuance of visas from the Philippines, he said.
The governor said she at her meeting with the federal agency, she was assured the denials were being tracked and that “it is not the intent of the Biden administration to keep people out of our great nation.”
Leon Guerrero has touted improved rates of approved foreign workers during her time in office.
In her 2020 State of the Island Address, she said the island went from “100% denial of H-2 labor certifications to 100% approval of those certifications.” In this year’s speech, her single mention of the subject was: “We delivered on our promise to bring back H-2B workers to meet the needs of our island.”
The governor’s office did not specify how many denials have been issued, or what percentage of applications were not approved by the federal government since her March address.
According to its release, however, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will assess all rules, regulations, and policies that may have led to the increase in H-2B visa denials.
Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, while in Washington D.C., pushed federal officials to look into what her office calls an “uptick” in denials for H-2B visa applications.
