Altered USCIS H2A Procedures

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced the final streamlining procedures for the H2A Program. The final rule is intended to make the H2A process easier for employers. Quoting from the annoucement:

U.S. employers may file an H-2A petition with USCIS if they have a shortage of available U.S. workers to fill temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs. Once the petition is approved, the employers can hire foreign workers to fill those jobs for a limited period of time. The final rule includes mechanisms to enhance the integrity of the program, increase protection of U.S. workers, and protect H-2A workers from unscrupulous employers and recruiters.

Key areas of reform addressed in the final rule include:

Relaxing the current limitations on H-2A employers to petition for multiple, unnamed agricultural workers;

Extending from 10 days to 30 days the time a temporary or seasonal agricultural worker may remain in the country following the expiration of his or her temporary H-2A stay;

Reducing from six months to three months the time an H-2A worker who has spent three years in the United States must reside and be physically present outside the United States before he or she is eligible to re-obtain H-2A status;

Allowing H-2A workers, who are changing from one H-2A employer to another H-2A employer, to begin work with the new petitioning employer upon the filing of a new H-2A petition, provided the new employer is participating in USCIS’ E-Verify program (accesible through the "Related Links" section of this page);

Prohibiting H-2A employers and recruiters from imposing certain fees on prospective H-2A workers as a condition of employment;

Requiring an approved temporary labor certification in connection with all H-2A petitions;

Requiring employers to notify USCIS when H-2A workers fail to show up for work, complete the work more than 30 days early, are terminated, or abscond from the worksite; and

Permitting the approval of H-2A petitions only for nationals of certain countries designated as important to the operation of the program and appearing on a list to be published annually in the Federal Register. The initial list of participating countries to be published simultaneously with this Final Rule includes Mexico, Jamaica, and 26 others. DHS may allow on a case-by-case basis a worker from a country not on the list to be eligible for the H-2A program if such participation is in the U.S. interest.