H-2A is a type of visa issued to temporary guestworkers to work in agriculture. The program is an off shoot of the bracero program, which was originally created to fill a shortage of agricultural labor during World War II.

Currently, an agricultural employer has to submit a petition to the US Department of Labor requesting certification in order to recruit H-2A workers. In that application, the employer currently has to document his/her efforts to recruit domestic workers. Only if those efforts are unsuccessful and the employer has failed to find sufficient workers can they apply for H-2A workers.

In the employer’s application, they must state what the proposed work is, how many days a week and for how long a day a worker will work. The application also includes the worksite location(s) and housing location(s). This application is frequently referred to as the “job order”.

If the employer is successful, a worker can work up to 10 months with a given grower. Under the H-2A program, a worker does not have the freedom to change employers if, for whatever reason, things don’t work out. Assuming there are no legal violations, the worker’s only real choice is to quit, at which point, they lose their legal status and are subject to deportation.

Under the rules of the H-2A visa, the US employer must pay for the in-bound transportation and related expenses for the worker from his/her country of origin. When the worker successfully completes their contract, the US employer must pay for the worker’s transportation back home. US employers must provide H-2A workers and other qualified domestic workers with free housing, as well as transportation to and from the worksite.

The H-2A visa also requires US employers to comply with other conditions. US employers are required to hire all eligible and qualified domestic workers who apply within the first 50 percent of the job order. US employers who hire H-2A workers are legally bound to pay wages that are equivalent to  at least 75 percent of the job order. For example, a US farmer states that workers will work forty hours a week for sixteen weeks. According to the 75 percent guarantee, the farmer is required to pay H-2A workers no less than that forty hours of wages for twelve weeks, regardless if the worker worked that long or not.

These requirements are the result of long standing concern of Stateside unions and advocates to ensure that domestic farmworkers are in no way discrimination against either directly through hiring, or by bringing in foreign workers who are perceived to be cheaper to hire than their local counterparts.