Trump's Business Sought to Hire Almost 200 Employees on Visas in 2025
Donald Trump’s family business accelerated its hiring of overseas employees on short-term work permits this year, even as his administration was placing obstacles for other businesses wanting to do the same, an analysis published recently stated.
According to information from the US Department of Labor, the business aimed to bring in at least 184 overseas employees in the coming year for short-term roles at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort, golf facilities and his Virginia winery.
The number of applications for H-2A and H-2B visas for staff including waitstaff, clerks, cleaning staff, kitchen staff and farm workers was the record submitted by the company, and increased from over 120 in 2021, when Trump’s first term ended.
It was also the fifth instance in 10 years that Trump had sought to hire more than 100 foreign employees for seasonal jobs at Mar-a-Lago, based on available data.
The disclosure comes amid a crackdown on immigration laws by his government that has included the introduction of a $100,000 fee on H1-B visas; increased review of the activities of the millions of people who already hold US visas; and tighter regulations for international scholars and reporters.
In total, the Trump Organization sought to hire over 560 overseas workers over the period the former president has been in the presidency, from his first term and during 2025.
Notably, Trump was criticized by certain in the GOP this week for remarks defending the need for foreign workers when a business was unable to find people with “particular skills” to fill particular roles.
“You cannot just say a nation is coming in, going to invest billions to construct a facility, and going to take people off an jobless roster who have been unemployed in years, and they’re going to start producing their defense systems. It doesn’t work that effectively,” he told a host after it was implied that overseas employees undercut the wages of American employees.
The White House refused a request for response, and the Trump Organization did not provide an answer to an request for information.
