If you read the news or listen to political candidates, you know that immigration is a widely discussed issue. Some people advocate for building a wall and closing the borders, while others support a more streamlined path to citizenship. Regardless of where you stand on this topic, one thing is clear: the construction industry cannot function without immigrant workers.

According to data from Associated Builders and Contractors, in 2024, the construction industry will likely require more than half a million new workers to meet building and development projections. In the United States, construction is one of the critical industries that cannot meet its labor demands with only native-born workers. For the industry to thrive, there must be a consistent flow of immigrant labor. This means the United States must establish stronger employment-based pathways for foreign workers.

Current Employment Pathways

Immigrant construction workers typically rely on two primary pathways to enter the United States:

1. H-2B Visa: This visa is available for temporary, non-agricultural workers. Employers in sectors facing temporary labor shortages can hire short-term immigrant workers when there are not enough U.S. citizens to fill those positions. Employers cover workers’ application costs, wages, and travel expenses. The visa expires after nine months, but workers can reapply after a three-month waiting period.
2. EB-3 Visa: This employment-based visa allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers for permanent positions. Employers must certify that no U.S. workers are available for the job and that hiring foreign workers will not negatively impact the wages of U.S. employees. This program provides a pathway to long-term employment and citizenship, benefiting both employers and workers.

Unfortunately, both programs have significant shortcomings. The H-2B visa program has an annual cap of 66,000 workers, with any increase requiring congressional approval. The EB-3 visa process is lengthy—often taking one to three years—and only 7 percent of approved visas can be allocated to workers from any single country. This quota leads to extended processing times for applicants from countries with high demand.

Illegal Employment, Misclassification, and Wage Disparities

The challenges of the current visa programs contribute to unlawful immigration, as desperate workers enter the country illegally, and desperate employers hire them.

It is estimated that about 30 percent of U.S. construction workers are immigrants, with even higher percentages in states like Texas and California. Many of these workers are undocumented, putting them at risk of misclassification. Misclassified workers are treated as independent contractors rather than employees, which means they do not receive benefits such as health insurance, medical leave, or workers’ compensation. Given the inherently dangerous nature of construction work, the lack of these protections can lead to severe medical and financial hardship.

Additionally, many immigrant workers earn lower wages than their U.S. counterparts despite performing the same work. However, due to their undocumented status, they often feel unable to demand fair compensation.

Improving the Immigrant Labor Flow

There is no simple solution to the immigrant labor issue, but lawmakers can take several steps to improve conditions for both workers and employers:

• Increase the H-2B visa cap to allow more immigrant workers to legally enter the country.
• Revise the EB-3 quota system to ensure more visas are available to workers from key labor-supplying countries.
• Allocate additional resources to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to expedite visa processing times.

More importantly, lawmakers must move beyond turning immigration debates into political soundbites. Instead, they should prioritize meaningful reform, using real data from the construction and other industries to support policies that allow workers to enter the country legally. The construction sector depends on immigrant labor, and the U.S. economy depends on a strong construction industry.