(MAR-A-LAGO, FLORIDA) The Trump Organization sought to bring in at least 184 foreign workers on visas in 2025 for jobs across some of its best-known properties, including Mar-a-Lago in Florida, a Virginia winery, and two golf clubs, setting a record number of visa requests by the company in a single year. Job orders for the Mar-a-Lago club showed positions starting in the fall as the company moved to staff up for the 2025 season, with similar timelines at other sites.
The wave of hiring marks the Trump Organization’s highest annual push for seasonal foreign labor, underscoring the company’s continued reliance on temporary visas for cooks, servers, bartenders, and other hospitality roles. While the company’s filings did not detail each visa type per property, it has historically used H-2B visas, which cover non-agricultural, short-term jobs when employers say they cannot find qualified U.S. workers. The request for 184 foreign workers comes as the broader national debate over foreign labor intensifies, and as the federal government tightens rules on certain work visas even while signaling carve-outs for industries like hospitality.
The mechanics of the hiring are familiar to seasonal resorts across the country: employers must certify that they tried to recruit U.S. workers and show there are no qualified Americans available for the specific jobs. H-2B visas fit that niche and are widely used in tourism and hospitality for short windows of peak demand. According to the U.S. government, H-2B visas are for non-agricultural temporary work and require employers to demonstrate a seasonal or peakload need and a lack of qualified U.S. applicants, a process outlined by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on its H-2B program page, which can be found at the USCIS site for H-2B temporary non-agricultural workers here.
Mar-a-Lago, the private club in Palm Beach that anchors the company’s resort portfolio, typically ramps up staffing as its busy season approaches in late year. The 2025 job orders followed that pattern. The Virginia winery and two golf clubs also figured in the company’s bids to hire temporary workers from abroad. Although the breakdown by property was not specified, the total of 184 foreign workers is the largest annual tally the company has sought, a jump over previous years.
The timing of the company’s visas 2025 push adds political friction. In September 2025, President Trump signed an executive order that imposed a new $100,000 fee on each new H-1B petition for workers outside the United States and set limits on entry for certain nonimmigrant workers unless the fee is paid, with the policy taking effect on September 21, 2025. That fee does not directly apply to H-2B visas, the category the Trump Organization has traditionally used for its seasonal hospitality jobs, but the administration has also indicated a willingness to create exemptions for sectors facing acute labor shortages, including hospitality. When speaking about deportations and the staffing strain faced by hotels, resorts, and restaurants, President Trump said his administration was working on
“exemptions that would protect those workers.”
That split approach — tightening rules for high-skilled H-1B applicants while keeping doors open for seasonal H-2B hiring — has fueled criticism from labor advocates and some local recruiters. They argue that employers, including luxury resorts, could fill many of these roles with U.S. workers if they improved wages or conditions or expanded training and outreach. A recruiter interviewed by the Washington Post questioned the premise that American workers are not available for the jobs at Trump properties, saying,
“We have plenty of people to fill those jobs. They just choose to work with the H-2B program.”
Supporters of seasonal visa hiring counter that resorts in beach and golf destinations face predictable but sharp surges in demand that local labor pools cannot absorb, especially for split shifts, late nights, or weekend-heavy schedules. They say the H-2B system was built for these fluctuations and that losing access to temporary international labor would force hotels and clubs to cut services or shorten operating seasons. For the Trump Organization, the centers of demand are familiar: dining rooms and banquet halls that need cooks, line servers, and bartenders when member events and guest bookings peak.
The firm’s request for 184 foreign workers in 2025 puts numbers to what has long been visible across its properties: a staffing model that leans on temporary labor during the busiest months. The fall start date at Mar-a-Lago reflects its winter high season, while the winery and golf clubs face their own seasonal spikes. The company’s reliance on H-2B visas in prior years aligns with the roles often listed in job orders, which have included cooks, servers, and bartenders—jobs that in many resort markets are hard to fill on short notice and for limited durations.
The policy backdrop complicates those staffing choices. The new $100,000 fee for H-1B petitions, which are used by employers for high-skilled roles like engineers and software developers, is part of a broader push by the administration to reduce certain inflows of temporary workers and reset the incentives and costs around hiring from abroad. While that fee does not touch H-2B visas, the message is unmistakable: new barriers for some categories, flexibility for others. The Trump Organization’s record year of visa requests illustrates how the hospitality sector is likely to navigate that divide, maintaining access to H-2B workers even as other visa pathways become more expensive or complex.
The contrast is not new but remains stark. As the administration emphasizes enforcement and new restrictions in multiple parts of the immigration system, one of the highest-profile businesses associated with President Trump continues to file seasonal visa requests at scale. That has invited charges of inconsistency from critics who point to the company’s determination to hire abroad while arguing the United States should reduce reliance on foreign workers. The Washington Post quote from a local recruiter —
“We have plenty of people to fill those jobs. They just choose to work with the H-2B program”
— captured that sentiment bluntly and has circulated widely among labor groups.
Still, in the narrow realm of seasonal work, the law asks a specific question: can the employer show that there are no qualified U.S. workers ready to take the job for the period required? Employers seeking H-2B workers must advertise roles, document their efforts, and satisfy federal agencies that the need is temporary and the impact on U.S. wages will be contained. The Trump Organization’s filings for the 2025 season followed that standard process, situating the company within a system that many hotels, country clubs, and resorts rely on to navigate their busiest months.
As scrutiny intensifies, the company’s hiring drive highlights how immigration policy changes reverberate in practical ways for employers and workers. For foreign workers, H-2B jobs can offer steady pay for a defined season and a return pathway in subsequent years, but they come with strict timelines and limited mobility. For U.S. workers in resort towns, the influx of temporary labor can mean reliability for businesses that sustain local economies, even as debates continue over wages and recruitment. And for the Trump Organization, the 2025 target — 184 foreign workers — serves as a concrete measure of how it plans to staff kitchens, dining rooms, and events during peak periods at marquee properties like Mar-a-Lago, the Virginia winery, and the two golf clubs.
The administration’s signaling around carve-outs for hospitality will remain central as the year unfolds. President Trump’s comment that the government was working on
“exemptions that would protect those workers”
speaks directly to the staffing concerns of hotels and clubs that depend on a seasonal workforce. Whether those exemptions and the separation between H-2B and H-1B programs hold firm will shape how resorts plan their hiring and how many U.S. workers see job postings at local fairs, community colleges, and online boards.
For now, the numbers tell the story. With a record request for seasonal hires abroad, the Trump Organization is betting that the established contours of the H-2B system will stay intact through the 2025 season. That bet is visible in the fall job orders at Mar-a-Lago, the staffing plans at the Virginia winery, and the needs at the two golf clubs. It is also visible in the friction with local recruiters and labor advocates who believe the company could fill more of those roles domestically. The clash between policy signals from Washington and hiring decisions in Palm Beach, Virginia wine country, and on fairways elsewhere is set to continue through the visas 2025 cycle, with the company’s 184 foreign workers at the center of a debate that shows no sign of fading.
This Article in a Nutshell
The Trump Organization filed for 184 foreign workers for 2025 at Mar-a-Lago, a Virginia winery, and two golf clubs — its largest single-year request. The filings reflect seasonal hospitality needs, likely using H-2B visas for cooks, servers and bartenders. The move coincides with a September 2025 executive order imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions, intensifying debate over reliance on foreign temporary labor. Supporters say H-2B addresses peak staffing shortages; critics contend employers could hire more U.S. workers by improving pay and outreach.
