During negotiations on the fiscal year 2023 government funding bill, a last-ditch effort to limit the construction industry’s access to the H-2B visa program—the only guest-worker visa program open to construction—failed. 

Days prior to the release of the fiscal year 2023, $1.7 trillion federal government funding bill, an effort to limit the construction industry’s access to the H-2B visa program gained steam. AGC, along with industry and owner groups, opposed this effort not only because of its impact on the future of the H-2B visa program but also because of its precedent setting for the limitation or exclusion of the construction industry from any immigration reform efforts in the future.

Ultimately, the effort to limit construction from the H-2B visa program failed, as the government funding bill did not include any language to that effect and maintained the status quo.