The H-2A visa is a temporary nonimmigrant agricultural work visa that helps employers who anticipate a domestic labor shortage bring foreign workers to the United States to perform temporary or seasonal agricultural work, including, but not limited to, planting, tending, or harvesting.
Depending on the type of work you need, temporary or seasonal agricultural work may occur on farms, plantations, ranches, nurseries, pastures, greenhouses, orchards, or similar locations.
Seasonal work is when you need more help than usual because the work is tied to a specific time of year due to an event or pattern, such as a short annual growing season.
Temporary work lasts a maximum of 1 year.
Employers affected by a strike, work stoppage, or layoff within 60 days of starting work may not be eligible for the program.
The H-2A visa is a U.S. nonimmigrant visa category that permits foreign nationals to temporarily work in the United States in agricultural jobs when there are insufficient domestic workers available.
Eligible work includes seasonal or temporary agricultural labor or services tied to a specific time of year (such as planting, cultivating, harvesting) or short-term need in a farm or agricultural setting.
An employer must demonstrate that there are not sufficient U.S. workers who are willing, able and qualified to perform the work, and that hiring foreign agricultural workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers.
Employers are required to pay at least the applicable wage (e.g., Adverse Effect Wage Rate, prevailing wage or higher), provide safe housing (or housing allowance where allowed), arrange transportation from the worker’s home country to the U.S. work site and return at the end of the contract.
Workers may stay up to one year or the period of employment contract (which is temporary or seasonal). Extensions are possible, but typically the total stay cannot exceed three years before the worker must leave for a period.
No. Unlike some other temporary worker visa categories, the H-2A program does not have an annual numerical cap on the number of visas issued.
Typically, no. The H-2A visa focuses on the agricultural worker themselves and the program does not provide for dependents to accompany under the same status.
