PHOENIX — Back in the Philippines, Simeon Andagan had a family, a home, a degree and a management position at a top hotel. He left it all behind because he could earn more money making beds for $10.50 an hour at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess in Arizona.

The 36-year-old is among 300 Filipinos who landed in the Phoenix area in October and will stay through May, mostly working as entry-level housekeepers and dishwashers.

The men and women provide an attractive alternative to workers from Mexico because Mexican laborers are seen as a high risk for overstaying their visas.

The Filipino workers come here because paychecks back home are small and opportunities are limited.

Resorts need them because they grapple with a severe staffing shortage in the winter and spring months, when millions of tourists spill into the state for sunshine, shopping and golf.

"My friends say America is a land of opportunity, a land of milk and honey, because there is a lot of work," Andagan said. "So many Filipinos are degree-holders, but they can't find work."

Seven hotels, with the assistance of an international recruitment company, brought the employees here for the first time this year on seasonal employment visas known as H-2Bs.

Andagan earned a bachelor's degree in commerce with an emphasis in management and worked 17 years for a top hotel company in his native Philippines, an island nation of 84 million people off the southeast coast of Asia. At the Princess in Scottsdale, he knows laundry workers who were teachers, housekeepers who were advertising executives.

His hometown's economy is so depressed that the lowest job in America is more lucrative than the highest job there, he said. A month's pay in the Philippines was $500, which would not buy him a single night at the luxury resort during the high season.

Now, he makes $2,000 a month. In a matter of weeks, he worked his way up from a room attendant to a housekeeping supervisor. Like most of his co-workers, he works overtime, saves up and sends money to his family. His new bounty will put his 19-year-old son through college.

"I always call my son, every day," Andagan said. "I miss my family, the happenings every day. All of my friends are there hanging out every day."

Hotels say they look for workers in English-speaking countries with service-oriented cultures.

The U.S. Department of Labor grants up to 66,000 H-2B visas every year, according to its Web site. But considering that those are parceled out among dozens of countries, they can be difficult for workers to obtain.

As a result, the visas are highly coveted.

"Some embassies feel they have sent enough workers over, so they are not going to approve any more," said John Bergmann, an independent consultant who works with an Orlando, Fla.-based international recruiting company called Delivering Human Innovation. "We recruit so heavily from the Philippines and have had such great success there, I think we know the well is going to dry up and we have to find some other good resources."

The rules of seasonal visas are clearly defined: