MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — The summer of 2021 is expected to be a rebound tourism season in Michigan but now there's a new concern threatening the state economy.
Large summer employers like destination resorts fear there might not be enough foreign workers to fill several thousand short-term summer positions in Michigan.
"This coming warm weather season is going to be a big rebound year here in Pure Michigan especially," said Dave Lorenz, vice president of Travel Michigan. The success of the state's tourism economy especially in the important months of June, July, and August would be hurt if positions go unfilled and employers are forced to cut back operations.
For Lorenz the question going into the summer remains, "Will we be prepared with enough staff to be able to provide the experience people have come to expect?"
The outlook for H2B and J-1 visa programs remains up in the air. In a typical summer many of the 30,000 international workers that come to Michigan to work in the summer would have already a visa. That's not the case this March.
A proclamation issued last year by former President Trump restricts travel for some non-U.S. residents including student-workers who fill seasonal positions ranging from camp counselors to wait staff at resorts in Michigan.
President Biden did not revoke Presidential Proclamation 100052, which "suspends the entry of aliens who present a risk to the U.S. labor market."
Proclamation 10052 is set to expire on March 31. However even as the restriction is expected to expire there's concern about how quickly U.S. embassies around the world will begin processing visa requests. Some of the visa require face-to-face interaction at an embassy, and many are still running limited operations.
During a normal year workers from 27 different countries begin arriving on Mackinac Island in mid-April to fill positions at the Grand Hotel.
"I think it's going to be very difficult to find a scenario where that happens this year," said Executive Vice President of Operations at Grand Hotel Doug Dean. "We would normally need about 300 seasonal visa workers and another 100 or so student visa workers."
Dean says he's not yet beginning to worry, but he and other resort operators on Mackinac Island are hopeful the Biden administration will release additional visas soon so positions for bartenders, waiters, housekeepers, and gardeners can be filled before the beginning of May.
"That's what we're all kind of waiting on is that next wave of visas to be released," said Dean.
If delays in processing and issuing visa persists into May some large employers in Michigan might be forced to scale back summer operations.
Efforts to find additional domestic workers to fill the currently open seasonal positions have generally resulted in little success.
"Don't get us wrong, we want to employ as many Americans as we can," said Lorenz. "But the fact is we'll not be able to do it this season, we just know we won't."
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.