U.S. provides visas to up to 15,000 temporary workers

WASHINGTON - 17 July 2017: The U.S. government is allowing 15,000 additional visas for temporary seasonal workers to help American businesses in danger of suffering irreparable harm because of a lack of such employees, the Department of Homeland Security said on Monday.

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly found after consulting with U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta that there were not enough qualified and willing U.S. workers available to perform temporary nonagricultural work, the department said in a statement.

"As a demonstration of the administration's commitment to supporting American businesses, DHS is providing this one-time increase to the congressionally set annual cap," Kelly said in a statement.