The state wants a waiver from Immigration and Nationality Act provisions prohibiting an asylum applicant from seeking employment in the U.S. for six months days after filing their initial asylum claim.

The request comes amidst a confluence of factors. Those include a surge of asylum-seekers, continued record-low unemployment leaving employers scrambling to find workers and a housing shortage crisis.

Portland, Maine’s largest city, has received more than 1,600 asylum seekers this year.

The letter does not suggest what, if any, waiting period that should be considered as an alternative.

“Federal constraints – namely the restriction on the ability to more immediately work – forces the State and municipalities to confront this tremendous hardship – a hardship that the State believes is not necessary given the strong desire that people seeking asylum have to work and contribute to society,” a letter from the department of labor to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ur Mendoza Jaddou reads.

The letter continues: “Further, with unemployment in Maine at record lows, and with our economic growth among the best in the nation, Maine faces a need for workers across regions, professions, and skill levels, especially in critical sectors such as health care, education, and construction.”

Maine will have 750,000 job openings through 2030, according to the letter, and has set a goal of attracting 75,000 new workers by 2029.

Maine’s unemployment rate was 2.7% in September.

In May, state lawmakers approved a resolution, signed by Gov. Janet Mills, directing the department of labor to seek the labor.

The department on Wednesday made the formal request to the  U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

There is no provision in federal law for such a waiver to be granted, but there's growing support for the idea.

Maine’s Sens. Angus King (I) and Susan Collins (R ) and 1st District Rep. Chellie Pingree have sponsored a bill, endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, enabling asylum seekers to receive work authorization on a faster timetable, according to the letter.

With reporting by the Associated Press.