President Donald Trump’s administration, consistent with its campaign promise to tighten the United States’ southern border, has embarked on what the president promised to be “the biggest deportation of undocumented immigrants in American history.” Meanwhile, Florida has enacted some of the strictest laws in the U.S., promising to levy large fines on state employers that hire undocumented immigrants.
A Florida visitor, snowbird or resident may wonder what the effect of this shift in immigration enforcement might mean for a seasonal economy that relies, in part, on foreign labor; however, the foreign labor that fuels much of Southwest Florida’s economy, particularly the hospitality industry, is not undocumented.
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data hub, 39 hospitality industry employers in Collier County hired 661 foreign guest workers for the 2025 season, which runs from November through mid-May. On average, they will work 45 hours per week for 34 weeks. The majority of these workers, 86% of the total, will work in food preparation and serving, primarily in private clubs in Collier County, but also in local resort hotels and restaurants. The remaining guest foreign workers will work in personal care and service occupations (6%), such as spas within private clubs and resorts, as well as in housekeeping (6%) at resort hotels. A handful, just 2%, will work in administrative and supervisory roles within the hospitality industry.
The wages earned by these workers will exceed $18 million and support a staggering $90 million-plus in incremental revenue for their employers. In turn, the additional revenue will generate $5.4 million in additional sales tax revenue for the state and $1.8 million in tax revenue for Collier County — a total of $7.2 million in taxes.
Despite popular misperceptions, hiring guest foreign workers is not a ploy by hospitality employers to lower labor costs and does not displace domestic workers. The government requires guest foreign workers to be paid prevailing, competitive wage rates, and employers must demonstrate that attempts to recruit and hire local domestic workers were unsuccessful. International hospitality workers in Collier earn on average $17.16 per hour, not including gratuities or commissions. Federal law requires that the employer and employee pay all applicable FICA, income and state employment taxes — in other words, the cost to employ these workers does not come at a discount.
Hospitality employers said the incremental cost of hiring international workers runs $4,000 to $5,000 per person, which includes fees paid to Immigration Services and the State Department and travel and transportation costs, legal fees and housing subsidies. The H-2B Visa program permits employers to hire international nonagricultural labor or service workers on a temporary basis. Each year, Congress establishes a cap on the number of workers that can be hired through this program — for this fiscal year, it is 66,000 workers nationwide.
In Collier, workers usually arrive in October and leave in late May, with over 60% returning from one season to the next. Employers said the biggest challenge is securing temporary housing for them, which is typically subsidized by the employer.
Any local resident, snowbird or regular visitor recognizes tourism’s influence on Southwest Florida, particularly during peak season. Traffic and restaurant wait times are just two indicators. Many private clubs, resort hotels and restaurants would be unable to operate efficiently or at full capacity during this time if not for guest foreign workers, because the local workforce is unable to fill all the seasonal jobs. Not having international workers could potentially cost our local economy over $90 million, by a conservative estimate, and our state and county governments over $7 million in tax revenues.
Consequently, we should be thankful foreign workers are willing to come here, spending several months away from their families each year to allow us to share in the fruits of their labor. The H-2B Visa program is a win-win proposition.
—Michael Collins, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the School of Resort & Hospitality Management in the Lutgert College of Business at Florida Gulf Coast University.
