Sponsors (12)
Introduced September 18, 2025 by Lloyd K. Smucker · Last progress September 18, 2025
The bill creates a new H-2C temporary-worker pathway that helps employers (especially small businesses) fill labor shortages and includes worker protections and predictable processing, but it also imposes new fees, caps, eligibility limits, enforcement risks, and exclusions from major tax benefits while leaving key text ambiguous, creating trade-offs between labor access, worker supports, and administrative/legal complexity.
Employers and small businesses in eligible industries: can hire vetted foreign workers under a new H-2C category, easing labor shortages for occupations the DOL designates as zone 1–3.
Small businesses in designated low-sales-per-employee industries: receive prioritized access to at least 25% of H-2C positions, improving their ability to fill vacancies.
H-2C workers (nonimmigrants): gain increased mobility because they may change employers after one year and may terminate employment at any time.
Immigrants and DHS staff: face significant uncertainty because Section 2's unclear/ambiguous text prevents determination of H-2C eligibility, conditions, and program details, increasing administrative confusion and legal uncertainty.
H-2C workers and their families: are excluded from the premium tax credit, child tax credit, and EITC, reducing financial support for low-income workers and potentially limiting access to health coverage.
Small businesses and employers: must pay new application, registration, position, and scarcity fees (including a $500 registration fee and a 5% scarcity fee), increasing the cost of hiring and disproportionately impacting small firms.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Creates a new H‑2C temporary worker category with employer registration, two six‑month allocation periods, small‑business set‑asides, a 5% recruitment fee, and changes to tax/benefit treatment for H‑2C workers.
Creates a new temporary H‑2C nonimmigrant worker category and builds a program framework for admitting and allocating those workers, with definitions, employer registration, position allocation rules, small‑business set‑asides and priorities, a 5% recruitment fee, and special tax and benefit treatment for H‑2C workers. Many substantive details are missing from the provided text (including key statutory language, numeric annual limits, and some eligibility rules), so the summary highlights the program elements that are present and notes where information is incomplete.