DHS Allows H-2A Foreign Workers to Stay in U.S. for More than Three Years

A new rule issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Agriculture Department (USDA) allows H-2A foreign visa workers to remain in the United States for longer than three years.

Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf announced on Wednesday that the agency, in coordination with USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue, will allow American farms to hire H-2A foreign visa workers who are already in the U.S. — bypassing existing rules that require them to hire incoming H-2A foreign visa workers.

The H-2A program allows American farms to import a limitless number of foreign workers and pay them below-average U.S. wages. American farms do not wholly rely on H-2A foreign visa workers to fill agricultural jobs, as the foreign workers make up only about ten percent of the total U.S. crop farm workforce. Last year, U.S. farmers hired roughly 250,000 H-2A foreign visa workers.

The DHS-USDA rule means that H-2A foreign visa workers can stay in the U.S. beyond their three-year residency period without ever having to return to their home countries. The majority of H-2A foreign visa workers arrive from Mexico and Central America.

“Providing flexibility for H-2A employers to utilize H-2A workers that are currently in the United States is critically important as we continue to see travel and border restrictions as a result of COVID-19,” Perdue said in a statement.

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