The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the Department of Labor (DOL or Department) is issuing this notice to announce that it is temporarily suspending the collection of H-2A labor certification fees. Implementing a temporary suspension period will allow ETA's Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) to move toward accepting electronic fees, as directed in President Trump's Executive Order 14247, Modernizing Payments To and From America's Bank Account (E.O. 14247). OFLC will be transitioning from collecting fees submitted in paper format (e.g., checks) to implementing a process to receive fee remittances electronically. The temporary suspension of H-2A certification fees will begin on September 2, 2025. During the temporary suspension period, OFLC will not issue invoices for certification fees for H-2A Applications for Temporary Certifications that are certified, and will not seek retroactive payment of fees for those certifications. Any employer that is issued an H-2A certification fee invoice prior to the effective date of the temporary suspension of collections must pay the invoice by the due date. OFLC will announce the end of the temporary suspension of H-2A certification fees via a Federal Register notice.
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This notice is provided to comply with the August 26, 2026 Order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California entered in United Farm Workers, et al. v. DOL, et al. , No. 25-cv-01614-KES-EGC (“Order”), requiring the U.S. Department of Labor (the “Department”) to provide...
The Department of Labor (Department or DOL) is issuing this interim final rule (IFR) to amend its regulations governing the certification of agricultural labor or services to be performed by temporary foreign workers in H-2A nonimmigrant status (H-2A workers). Specifically, the Department is revising the methodology for determining the hourly Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWRs) for non-range occupations by using wage data reported for each U.S. state and territory by the Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey. For the vast majority of H-2A job opportunities, the Department will use OEWS survey data to establish AEWRs applicable to five Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes combining the most common field and livestock worker occupations previously measured by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Farm Labor Survey (FLS), which covered six SOC codes. These AEWRs will be divided into two skill-based categories to account for wage differentials arising from qualifications contained in the employer's job offer. For all other occupations, the Department will use the OEWS survey to determine two skill-based AEWRs for each SOC code to reflect wage differentials. The threshold determination for assigning the SOC code(s) and applicable skill-based AEWR will be based on the duties performed for the majority of the workdays during the contract period and qualifications contained in the employer's job offer. Finally, to address differences in compensation between most U.S. workers and H-2A workers who receive employer-provided housing at no cost, the Department will implement a standard adjustment factor to the AEWR to account for this non-monetary compensation that employers will apply when compensating H-2A workers under temporary agricultural labor certifications.
This final rule amends DHS regulations to modify the timing of when USCIS must receive a valid temporary labor certification when an H-2A petitioner electronically files a Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker requesting unnamed beneficiaries.
The Department of Labor (Department or DOL) is proposing to amend its regulations governing the certification of agricultural labor or services to be performed by temporary foreign workers in H-2A nonimmigrant status (H-2A workers) and enforcement of the contractual obligations applicable to employers of such nonimmigrant workers. This notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM or proposed rule) that would rescind provisions contained within a final rule published by the Department on April 29, 2024, which adopted a number of unnecessary, burdensome, and costly requirements on employers. Specifically, these provisions include, but are not limited to, substantial new requirements associated with the material terms and conditions offered by employers to H-2A workers that are not commonly provided to other U.S. workers, including progressive discipline policies for cause-based employment terminations, anti-retaliation measures for certain workers engaged in self-organization and other concerted activities, and expanding the authority and scope for a State Workforce Agency (SWA) to discontinue employment services to employers, which prevents those employers from accessing the H-2A program, while eliminating employers' option to request a hearing prior to the SWA's final determination. Further, the final rule imposed extensive highly-sensitive data collection requirements on employers related to their use of foreign labor recruiters, including personal names and physical addresses abroad, as well as detailed personal information associated with all owners of the employers, operators of the place(s) of employment, and supervisor(s) and manager(s) of workers employed under the terms of the work contract, with very limited or no practical utility to the agency's statutory decision making. A brief summary of this rulemaking can be found at www.regulations.gov by searching by the RIN: 1205-AC25.
Consistent with the modified order in the case Familias Unidas Por La Justicia, the Department is providing this notice that all relevant employers employing workers in a specific crop or agricultural activity must offer and pay the applicable active prevailing piece rate wage for work performed in...
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