U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced new features on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farmers.gov website designed to help facilitate the employment of H-2A workers. The vast majority of Florida citrus is harvested by temporary foreign workers employed through the H-2A program.
“USDA’s goal is to help farmers navigate the complex H-2A program that is administered by Department of Labor, Department of Homeland Security and the State Department so hiring a farm worker is an easier process,” Perdue said.
Here are some new H-2A features on Farmers.gov:
- A real-time dashboard enables farmers to track the status of their eligible employer application and visa applications for temporary nonimmigrant workers.
- Log-in information is streamlined so if a farmer has an existing login.gov account he or she can save multiple application tracking numbers for quick look-up at any time.
- Farmers have easy access to the Department of Labor’s Foreign Labor Application Gateway.
- Farmers can track time-sensitive actions taken in the course of Office of Foreign Labor Certification’s adjudication of temporary labor certification applications.
- Farmers can access all application forms online.
See the H-2A information on Farmers.gov here.
Perdue unveiled farmers.gov in 2018. Farmers.gov is a dynamic, mobile-friendly public website combined with an authenticated portal where customers can apply for programs, process transactions and manage accounts.
A temporary final rule change to some H-2A requirements announced in April is intended to help citrus and other agricultural employers avoid disruptions to their labor forces, protect the food supply and lessen impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. The rule change was announced by the Department of Homeland Security with the support of the USDA. Learn more about the temporary final rule change.
Source: USDA
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