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TO BE OR H-2B?

REGULATION J-1 VISAS H-2B VISAS
LENGTH OF VISA 4 months Up to 10 months
COSTS Currently much less than H-2Bs as the Costs include legal, government,
process is lightly regulated for ski advertising, mail, and travel fees—all
areas and goes through a third party costs must be paid for by the ski area,
company (but more regulation is not the visa employee
pending later in 2018)
SEASONAL Can be utilized individually either for 10-month length allows for visa
summer or winter (college student workers to cover two seasons
summer breaks)
ABILITY TO BRING EMPLOYEES BACK Difficult, and limited to returning Very easy
YEAR-AFTER-YEAR college students
TRAVEL COSTS PAID BY EMPLOYER No (again, possible under future Yes
regulations)
ABILITY TO HIRE EXPERIENCED No—most J-1 visa-holders are college Yes, returning visa holders can come back
WORKERS students or recent graduates to a company with past experience
WORK-INTENSIVE PROCESS FOR SKI No—most of process goes through Yes, process goes through the ski
AREA HR DEPARTMENT third-party agency area
CULTURAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT Yes No
FOR EMPLOYEES
PREVAILING WAGE REQUIREMENT No, but more regulation possible Yes
HOUSING REQUIRED No, but more regulation possible No
CAN BE A GREAT STAFFING RESOURCE Yes Yes
IN THE RIGHT SITUATION

be entitled to the same level of pay as H-2B visa workers, Beyond the direct expense, one of the biggest chal-
under DOL’s “corresponding worker” rules.) lenges with the travel reimbursement requirement (particu-
While it’s important to consider the prevailing wages for larly for western destination ski resorts) is the requirement
all positions, with proper planning these wages can be less of to cover travel expenses for corresponding American work-
a deterrent for using H-2B visas than many resorts have pre- ers in the same position as the H-2B visa worker. Similar to
viously believed. the prevailing wage rules, the ski area must offer travel reim-
bursement to an American worker holding exactly the same
TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT positions as an H-2B visa worker. With so many American
Another regulation that can cause heartburn for ski areas workers heading to western mountains to work during
is the travel reimbursement requirement for H-2B visas the season—think of the traditional “ski bum” or the per-
(which is currently not required for J-1 visas). Under H-2B son taking a year off during or before college—this can be
visa regulations, an employer must always pay the travel a budgetary challenge. However, there are ways to navigate
expenses to bring H-2B visas workers to the ski area at the this regulation.
start of its season. In terms of outbound transportation, First, a ski resort can “tier” positions similar to the pre-
travel reimbursement is only required if: 1) the H-2B visa vailing wage strategy mentioned above to minimize this
worker is going directly home, and 2) that person works expense. This decreases the amount of US workers that are
the entire season or is otherwise fired or terminated. If the in the precise same role as the H-2B workers who would be
H-2B visa worker quits before the season ends or opts not eligible for travel reimbursement.
to immediately return home (e.g., to overstay the visa or Second, this “corresponding worker” regulation forces a
travel around the US,), the ski area is not responsible for ski resort to carefully consider which positions to apply for
outbound transportation. Also note—even if the H-2B H-2B visas. For example, in the East, most of the lift opera-
visa worker wants to voluntarily cover his or her own travel tors are hired locally, whereas in the West, many American
expenses, DOL does not allow this, and this may arise workers travel from across the country to work as lift opera-
during the increased number of audits under DOL over the tors for a season (often to get the benefit of the season pass).
H-2B program. As a result, far more Eastern ski areas seek H-2B visas for

24 | NSAA JOURNAL | CONVENTION 2018
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