Title: A bill to temporarily increase the availability of temporary nonimmigrant nonagricultural workers for the purposes of restoring American forests, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
This bill temporarily exempts certain workers involved with forest health or conservation from the annual limit on visas for temporary nonagricultural workers (H-2B visas).
Specifically, for five years starting from the bill's enactment, a visa for a temporary nonagricultural worker entering the United States to perform certain work (such as orchard work, tree planting, nursery care, or harvesting minor forest products) shall not count against the annual limit on H-2B visas. (Currently, only 66,000 H-2B visas may be issued each year, with exemptions for certain types of workers.)

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2207 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2207

  To temporarily increase the availability of temporary nonimmigrant 
nonagricultural workers for the purposes of restoring American forests, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 24, 2021

   Mr. Thune introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To temporarily increase the availability of temporary nonimmigrant 
nonagricultural workers for the purposes of restoring American forests, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. EXEMPTION FROM H-2B NUMERICAL LIMITATION FOR CERTAIN 
              FORESTRY CONSERVATION WORKERS.

    (a) In General.--Section 214(g) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(g)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(12)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the numerical 
limitation under paragraph (1)(B) shall not apply to principal aliens 
described in section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) who are employed or have 
received an offer of employment for the work of--
            ``(i) orchard work and seed collection;
            ``(ii) tree planting;
            ``(iii) nursery care;
            ``(iv) forest management;
            ``(v) harvesting pine straw or other minor forest products;
            ``(vi) timber stand improvement;
            ``(vii) herbicide application;
            ``(viii) fire prevention and fire management activities;
            ``(ix) brush clearing and vegetation management;
            ``(x) maintenance of right of ways;
            ``(xi) habitat protection and restoration;
            ``(xii) watershed protection and restoration;
            ``(xiii) land reclamation; or
            ``(xiv) other activities with a direct forest health or 
        conservation nexus.
    ``(B) The exemptions described in subparagraph (A) shall not apply 
to landscaping or groundskeeping.''.
    (b) Sunset.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall remain in 
effect until the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment 
of this Act.
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