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Contact: Margaret M. Moree
Two federal agencies unveiled proposed changes to the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker Program; USDOL noted that proposed changes to the H-2B program will be released in the near future.
The Department of Homeland Security proposed extending from 10 days to 30 days the time a temporary agricultural worker may remain in the United States after the end of employment; reducing from six to three months the time a temporary agricultural worker must wait outside the United States before he or she is eligible to reenter the country under H-2A status; and allowing H-2A workers, who are changing from one H-2A employer to another, to begin work with the new petitioning employer before the change is approved by DHS. The proposed rule modification is available for a 60-day comment period. More information regarding the proposed rule and instructions for submitting comments is available at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site.
In addition to the proposed Department of Homeland Security regulatory changes, the US Department of Labor proposed a series of new regulations which would substantially change the H-2A process including:
- Requiring employers to file H-2A applications directly with the US Department of Labor;
- Increase advertising and recruitment requirements to provide U.S. workers with additional information about job opportunities and more lead time to apply for these jobs before temporary foreign workers can be hired;
- Requiring employers to attest under threat of substantial penalty that they have complied with all requirements;
- Revising the methodology for calculating the wages required to be paid to H-2A workers to better reflect agricultural wages by locality, occupation and skill level;
- Increasing the audits of H-2A certifications, and authorizing the revocation of approved certifications and debarment of employers who fail to comply;
- Substantially increasing civil money penalties for program violations; and,
- Raising H-2A application fees to better reflect the actual costs of administering the program.
More information on the proposed DOL changes can be found at here.
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