New H-2A Rules Streamlines Bringing Workers to U.S.
March 31, 2020 Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue announced over the weekend the U.S. will ease constraints on the H-2A and H-2B programs. Earlier in March the U.S. announced only returning guestworkers would be allowed back in the U.S. due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The restriction sent shockwaves through agriculture, with growers worried about having enough labor available during planting season.
There are two main ways the U.S. is easing the constraints the no-new-guestworker rule had created:
1. Eliminating In-Person Interviews
The U.S. is waiving in-person interviews for incoming guestworkers involved in H-2A and H-2B programs, Sec. Perdue announced. The move will remove a time-consuming step in bringing in new workers.
“Temporarily waiving in-person interviews for H-2 visa applicants streamlines the application process and helps provide steady labor for the agriculture sector during this time of uncertainty,” Sec. Perdue says in the announcement. “H-2 labor is vital to the economy and food security of America – our farmers and producers depend on these workers to continue to feed and clothe the world.”
2. Expanding Timeline for Who Is a “Returning Worker”
In another ruling designed to increase the number of guestworkers headed to American fields, the U.S. is extending the pool of eligible workers. When the U.S. decided to eliminate new H-2A and H-2B workers from entering the country, that left recruiters scrambling.
“Fortunately, we have a database of thousands of returning workers and are actively recruiting additional returnees,” says Lydia Hock, a recruiter in Mexico with LaborMex. “We’ve recruited north of a thousand renewals this week alone.”
They sought out those who could qualify as returning workers who were not already part of the 2020 program. Now a returning worker is anyone who held a valid H-2A visa within the past 48 months, or four years.
“The workers also have to have a clean record with no illegal immigration issues to qualify,” Hock says.
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