H-2A visas allow US employers to hire foreign workers to perform temporary, seasonal farm labor. Approved workers enter the US for the duration of the agricultural need (almost always less than one year), with the possibility of limited extensions.
Until the southern border was substantially secured early in the second Trump administration, undocumented workers were a chief alternative source of farm labor.
Unlike some other work visas, H-2A visas are not limited by an annual cap. However, American businesses hiring H-2A workers face some of the most stringent requirements in any visa program to show they have exhausted efforts to hire US workers. The H-2A labor market test includes three mandatory steps:
1. Recruit US Employees From Previous Year
Employers must contact any US workers they employed in previous years and offer them the position first.
2. State Workforce Agency (SWA) Recruitment
Employers must file job orders with the SWA 60-75 days before the start date. The SWA then actively recruits and refers local workers to that farm.
3. Continued US Worker Priority
Employers must hire any qualified US worker who applies for the job until 50% of the entire work contract period is over (for example, for the first three months of a six-month contract).
To ensure that H-2A labor doesn’t drive down local pay, employers must pay the highest of four wages: the prevailing wage, the state or federal minimum wage, the collective bargaining rate, or the Adverse Effect Wage Rate. This last rate is set by the Department of Labor (DOL) to prevent any lowering of overall agricultural wages over time.