H-2A Agricultural Guestworker Program

The H-2A agricultural guestworker programs provides a way for U.S. agricultural employers to bring nonimmigrant foreign workers into the United States to perform seasonal agricultural work on a temporary basis when domestic workers are unavailable. During fiscal year 1996, agricultural employers used the program to bring in about 15,000 workers--less than one percent of the U.S. agricultural field workforce. During fiscal year 1997, the number of workers brought into the country under the program rose to nearly 21,000--just over one percent of the total farm labor workforce. GAO testified that a sudden, widespread farm labor shortage requiring the importation of large numbers of foreign workers is unlikely to occur in the near future, although localized labor shortages may exist for specific crops or geographic areas. Few agricultural employers seek workers through the program, but those that do generally are successful in obtaining foreign agricultural workers on both a regular and an emergency basis. Although enforcement efforts by the Immigration and Naturalization Service are unlikely to significantly increase demand for H-2A workers, GAO recommends changes to the program that could improve the ability of growers to obtain workers when needed and to better protect the wages and working conditions of both domestic and foreign workers. These changes include reducing both the time required to process applications and the period of time that the worker must be employed to qualify for a wage guarantee.

GAO noted that: (1) a sudden widespread farm labor shortage requiring the importation of large numbers of foreign workers is unlikely to occur in the near future; (2) there appears to be no national agricultural labor shortage now, but localized labor shortages may exist for specific crops or geographical areas; (3) although many farmworkers are not legally authorized to work in the United States, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) does not expect its enforcement activities to significantly reduce the aggregate supply of farmworkers; (4) INS expects limited impact from its enforcement activities because of the prevalence of fraudulently documented farmworkers and INS' competing enforcement priorities; (5) in fiscal year (FY) 1996, less than 5 percent of the 4,600 INS worksite enforcement efforts were directed at agricultural workplaces; (6) INS conducts enforcement efforts largely in response to complaints, and it receives few complaints about agricultural employers; (7) INS officials stated that operational impediments prevented the agency from significantly reducing the number of unauthorized farmworkers; (8) the prevalence of unauthorized and fraudulently documented farmworkers does, however, leave individual growers vulnerable to sudden labor shortages if INS does target its enforcement efforts on their establishments; (9) although few agricultural employers seek workers through the H-2A program, those that do are generally successful in obtaining foreign agricultural workers on both a regular and an emergency basis; (10) during FY 1996 and the first 9 months of FY 1997, the Department of Labor approved 99 percent of all H-2A applications; (11) however, both employers and Labor officials have difficulty meeting timeframes specified by law and regulation; (12) because Labor does not collect key program management information, it is unable to determine the extent and cause of missed timeframes; (13) the multiple agencies and levels of government implementing the program may result in confusion for both employers and workers; (14) while INS enforcement efforts are unlikely to create a significant increase in demand for H-2A workers, GAO has recommended changes in program operations that could improve the ability of growers to obtain workers when needed--whether or not a nationwide labor shortage exists--and better protect the wages and working conditions of both domestic and foreign workers; and (15) these include reducing both the time required to process applications and the period of time the worker must be employed to qualify for a wage guarantee.