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Romney Details Seasonal Visa Plan

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By JOHN FLESHER, The Associated Press

Published: October 14, 2007

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Saturday that he favors more seasonal visas to foreign workers in industries such as agriculture and tourism.

Campaigning in northern Michigan, where many employers have struggled to fill jobs in hotels and restaurants during the summer tourist rush, Romney said more temporary workers should be allowed where there are labor shortages.

'The answer to that is simple, which is issue more visas,' Romney told reporters. 'If our employment sector needs additional immigrant laborers, then issue the visas necessary to provide that work force.'

Federal law allows businesses in need of seasonal help to obtain what are known as H2B visas for foreign laborers - if they can prove good-faith efforts to hire locally first.

Some in the hospitality industry worried that President Bush's immigration plan, which stalled in the Senate this year, would have meant more paperwork and hurdles to bring in seasonal workers.

Romney also said that if elected, he would try to help the struggling domestic auto industry by boosting federal investment in energy-efficient technology.

He said federal fuel economy standards have done little to improve gas mileage and have hurt domestic companies more than their foreign competitors. 'Automobile efficiency improvements are important, but they should be reached on a collaborative basis with the auto industry,' Romney said.

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