Latest News & Updates

A new Department of Homeland Security rule for the H-2A and H-2B temporary worker programs will take effect on January 17, 2025. The rule modernizes the programs by eliminating the list of eligible countries, simplifying how workers’ maximum stay is calculated, and expanding grace periods to give workers more time before and after employment ends. It also allows H-2 workers to start a new job as soon as a new petition is filed, increasing mobility. The rule strengthens worker protections by banning recruitment fees, authorizing petition denials for employers with labor violations, adding whistleblower protections, and clarifying USCIS’s authority to conduct compliance reviews and inspections.

The H-2B visa program lets employers hire migrant workers for temporary, low-wage jobs, but employers are pushing to expand the program and change its definition so it can be used for year-round work. As the Trump administration reduces the available labor force through increased deportations and the cancellation of work permits, employers may rely even more on H-2B workers. Currently, H-2B jobs are concentrated in a few industries and are associated with lower wages, poor working conditions, and widespread wage theft amounting to billions of dollars. Focusing on meatpacking as a case study, the report compares employers’ attempts to use H-2B workers as a low-cost strategy with an alternative approach that provides workers with full labor rights through lawful permanent residency. The authors conclude that expanding H-2B is harmful and instead call for stronger worker protections, reforms to the program’s rules, and pathways to permanent residency for the workers who fill these roles.

An 18-month investigation by Prism, Futuro Investigates, and Latino USA found that the H-2A visa program—derived from the infamous Bracero Program—is rife with wage theft and exploitation

If Congress is not able to pass the comprehensive immigration reform we so desperately need, it should at least act to make our current system work better for the businesses that depend on it.

On the heels of the U.S. Department of Labor’s announcing plans to revise its H-2A program, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing amendments to its H-2A and H-2B regulations. The proposed changes would “ensure the integrity of the H-2 programs and enhance protections for workers.”

Seasonal workers are a crucial component to the US economy and employers rely on H-2 visa programs to get them here legally. But new regulations announced by Pres. Biden will make it harder for migrants to obtain H-2s, costing both consumers and small businesses dearly.

​A proposed rule recently issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would grant more flexibility to foreign seasonal workers in the H-2 visa programs, while toughening the consequences for employers that violate the programs' policies.