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Release Date 

02/05/2025

US Department of Labor reaches agreement resulting in more than $2.3 million in back wages to temporary foreign agricultural workers

Agreement provides record back wage amount for H-2A program, plus $500,000 penalty

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Yerington, Nev.-based onion grower Peri & Sons has agreed to pay a record total of $2,338,700 in back wages to 1,365 workers, along with a civil money penalty of $500,000, for violations under the H-2A program.

The Chicago National Processing Center (CNPC) has a new address. Beginning on August 2, 2012, please direct your hard copy filings for the D-1, H-2A and H-2B programs to the CNPC's new addresses provided below. Please note that the CNPC move does not affect the electronic filing of LCAs but any employer with permission to file by hard copy should direct its LCA filing(s) to the new address.

Please also remember to direct your payments of H-2A labor certification fees to the new P.O. Box address (also listed below).

The Department is announcing the implementation of electronic filing in the H-2A and H-2B visa programs through the Department's iCERT Visa Portal System. We believe this new electronic filing capability will enhance the accessibility and quality of labor certification services, reduce the data collection and reporting burden on small employers, facilitate more streamlined business processes, and establish greater transparency in the Department's decisions.

• DOL fact sheet on a new web-based tool that will re-engineer the processing of H-2A applications filed by U.S. farmers, ranchers, and associations of agricultural producers through the iCERT Visa Portal System beginning on December 10, 2012.

• Please check the attached file to read the fact sheet

The Department is in the process of implementing electronic filing in the H-2B programs through the iCERT Visa Portal System. This page will contain information related to the implementation of electronic filing in the H-2B programs, including technical details about accessing four training webinar sessions.

Please check the attachment to read the H-2 B Fact Sheet.

Due to the time-sensitive nature of agricultural work, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) expedites all H-2A “temporary or seasonal agricultural worker” petitions. However, some recent H-2A petitions have experienced unexpected delays due to Requests for Evidence (RFEs) resulting from the use of the Validation Instrument for Business Enterprises (VIBE).

DOL releases Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) on various topics, please check attachments for detail information.

The Department, in anticipation of the enactment of H.J.Res 117, which prohibits the Department from expending funds to implement the 2011 H-2B Wage Rule for the duration of that Continuing Resolution, will publish in the Federal Register a Final Rule extending the effective date of the 2011 Wage Rule to March 27, 2013.The Final Rule is posted on the Federal Register's web site September 28, 2012 and it is accessible here.

The Department has posted the first round of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) addressing the implementation of electronic filing in the H-2B and H-2A labor certification programs through the Department's iCERT Visa Portal System. The FAQs are largely based on questions received from participants in the four webinar training sessions conducted by the Office of Foreign Labor Certification, and are published to assist program users in navigating electronic filing in the H-2B and H-2A programs.

The Department has published in the Federal Register a notice establishing the 2013 allowable meal charges and maximum travel subsistence reimbursement amounts. The 2013 allowable charge for providing three meals a day is set at $11.42 per day, although employers may petition the Chicago National Processing Center for a higher charge if justified by documentation of actual costs. Similarly, the 2013 minimum subsistence charge for meals during travel is set at $11.42 a day.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reached the statutory H-1B cap of 65,000 for fiscal year (FY) 2014 within the first week of the filing period, which ended on April 5, 2013. USCIS also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption.  

This afternoon, Senators Schumer and McCain briefed me on the bipartisan immigration reform bill that they have drafted with their colleagues in the Senate. This bill is clearly a compromise, and no one will get everything they wanted, including me. But it is largely consistent with the principles that I have repeatedly laid out for comprehensive reform. This bill would continue to strengthen security at our borders and hold employers more accountable if they knowingly hire undocumented workers.

As reported by The Indian Express:

The proposed changes in the issuing of H-1B visas, the highly sought after US work permits, will badly affect the Indian IT firms which depend heavily on these work visas.

The changes under the Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) put a curb on use of H-1B visa for those companies which have a higher ratio of work force under this category.

Most of the Indian companies will fall under this classification.

Release Date 

03/31/2025

Introduction

USCIS, in consultation with DOL, prepared the following frequently asked questions and answers.

Questions & Answers

Temporary Labor Certifications

Q1. When does the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) expect me to sign an electronically filed H-2A and H-2B temporary labor certification (TLC) application?

As announced by USCIS on April 2, 2013, USCIS has temporarily suspended adjudication of certain Form I-129 H-2B petitions for temporary non-agricultural workers.

For more complete information, click here

As announced by USCIS on April 2, 2013, USCIS has temporarily suspended adjudication of certain Form I-129 H-2B petitions for temporary non-agricultural workers while the government considers appropriate action in response to the Court order entered March 21, 2013 in Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas et al v. Solis, 2:09-cv-00240-LDD (E.D. Pa).

What This Means for H-2B Employers

Effective March 22, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is temporarily suspending adjudication of most Form I-129 H-2B petitions for temporary non-agricultural workers while the government considers appropriate action in response to the Court order entered March 21, 2013 in Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas et al v. Solis, 2:09-cv-00240-LDD (E.D. Pa).

USCIS has resumed processing of all Form I-129 H-2B petitions for temporary non-agricultural workers.  On March 22, 2013, USCIS temporarily suspended adjudication of most Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, H-2B petitions while the government considered appropriate action in response to the Court order in Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas et al

The Department of Labor is making available Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to assist filers with complying with the requirements of the joint Interim Final Rule. The FAQs address the applicability of the new prevailing wage methodology, employer wage obligations, requests for review and the processing of pending H-2B prevailing wage requests and H-2B applications for temporary labor certification.

To learn more, please read the FAQs.

The Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security are making available for public inspection a copy of the Interim Final Rule, Wage Methodology for the Temporary Non-Agricultural Employment H-2B Program, Part 2, to be published in the Federal Register on April 24, 2013. This Interim Final Rule, developed jointly by the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security, revises the prevailing wage methodology used by the Department of Labor to calculate certain prevailing wages paid to H-2B workers and U.S.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year 2026. 

USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. Petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, are exempt from the FY 2026 H-1B cap. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to: 

On August 30, 2013, the Department of Labor (Department) will publish in the Federal Register a final rule to delay indefinitely the effective date of the Wage Methodology for the Temporary Non-Agricultural Employment H-2B Program final rule (2011 Wage Rule), which was published on January 19, 2011, 76 FR 3452.