An ultra-exclusive Hamptons yacht club catering to the wealthy and well-connected was forced to suspend its members-only restaurant service for multiple days after several of its kitchen staff were booted from the country over visa issues, The Post has learned.
The swanky oceanfront Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett — which reportedly charges around $100,000 in initiation fees — canceled its Wednesday night dinner service after its foreign cooks had to leave the US because of problems renewing their H-2B temporary work visas, according to a letter sent to members the same day.
Food service was also canceled Thursday and was not expected to be back up and running until Friday’s lunch service, the club informed its deep-pocketed members — a group that once included Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s parents.
"The H2B visa approval for our cooks is still not resolved,” the letter obtained by The Post stated, referring to special visas that allow US employers to fill seasonal or temporary positions with foreign nationals.
Eight staffers from the club were reportedly booted from the country, according to local outlet, The East Hampton Press.
In a statement to The Post, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said, “Neither [Customs and Border Protection] nor [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] were involved in this incident.”
Similarly, the East Hampton Town Police Department confirmed it had “no records or indication of outside agency activity.”
The Department of Labor offers H-2B visas for seasonal hires outside of the agriculture sector.
“It seems that an oversight either by the agent or attorney responsible for submitting our petition or perhaps by the US Immigration Office itself has resulted in a situation where our H2B kitchen staff must leave the country immediately and return to their home countries for at least 60 days before their visas can be renewed,” the notice continued. --->READ MORE HERE
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Reported H-2B visa problems for its restaurant staff forced an elite yacht club in the Hamptons to temporarily suspend its restaurant service.
The oceanfront Devon Yacht Club reportedly has a $100,000 membership fee and obviously employs foreigners to make $40 cheeseburgers and $25 dollar ice cream sundaes. (That’s a guess.)
In a letter to club members obtained by the New York Post, the club wrote, “We are sorry to inform you of the immediate cancellation of our food services until lunch on Friday. However, the bar will be open tomorrow (Thursday), and we will have a limited selection of bar bites available (5pm to 8pm).”
The club isn’t sure who’s to blame for the visa mishap that resulted in its H-2B visa holders having to immediately return to their home countries for 60 days before they can file for a renewal.
The letter continues:
The H2B visa approval for our cooks is still not resolved. It seems that an oversight either by the agent or attorney responsible for submitting our petition or perhaps by the US Immigration Office itself has resulted in a situation where our H2B kitchen staff must leave the country immediately and return to their home countries for at least 60 days before their visas can be renewed.
An H-2B visa is government approval for non-farm temporary jobs after employers prove they cannot find Americans to fill all the slots. This can be due to not enough Americans applying for the job or not enough Americans qualified for the job. In the case of this yacht club, the restaurant staff is a seasonal, warm-weather job. But “temporary” with an H-2B can be up to three years. --->READ MORE HERE
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