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Explore visasI-129Full guide

H-2ATemporary agricultural worker

For foreign workers whose U.S. employer petitions for them to fill a temporary or seasonal farm job.

At a glance

How you apply
Your employer applies to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for a labor certification, then files Form I-129 (paper) or I-129H2A (online) with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). From abroad, you then apply for an H-2A visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate, unless you do not need a visa
Checked Oct 18, 2026[1]
How long you can stay
Up to the period on the labor certification; extensions of up to 1 year at a time; 3 years in total in H-2A or H-2B status, then an uninterrupted period of at least 60 days outside the U.S.
Checked Oct 22, 2026[1,2]
Can family come
Yes: spouse and unmarried children under 21 in H-4 status. They cannot work in the U.S. while in H-4
Checked Oct 18, 2026[1]
Who you can work for
Only the employer that petitioned for you. An eligible worker may start with a new H-2A employer once that employer properly files a nonfrivolous petition (or on the requested start date, if later)
Checked Oct 18, 2026[2,3]
USCIS filing fee
Form I-129 for H-2A on paper: $1,090 with named workers or $530 with only unnamed workers, plus a $600 Asylum Program Fee (lower for small employers and nonprofits)
Checked Oct 18, 2026[4,5]

What H-2A is

The H-2A program lets U.S. employers or U.S. agents that meet specific regulatory requirements bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary agricultural jobs. By law, the work must be agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature.[1,6]

H-2A is a temporary (nonimmigrant) status. The statute requires an H-2A worker to have a residence in a foreign country that they have no intention of abandoning.[6]

What the employer must show

The employer that petitions for you has to show the following.

  • The job is temporary or seasonal. Seasonal means tied to a certain time of year by an event or pattern, such as a short annual growing cycle, and needing labor levels far above ongoing operations. Temporary means the employer's need will, except in extraordinary circumstances, last no longer than one year.[1,2]
  • There are not enough U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified and available to do the temporary work.[1]
  • Employing H-2A workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.[1]
  • Generally, the petition includes a single valid temporary labor certification (TLC) from DOL. An employer filing Form I-129H2A online for unnamed workers does not have to submit it at filing, but DOL must approve it before USCIS can approve the petition.[1,2]

Each named worker must have met the minimum requirements stated on the certification, and been fully able to do the stated duties, when the certification application was filed. For unnamed workers, this is checked when they apply for the visa (or for admission, if no visa is required): they must have met the requirements when the certification was applied for, or passed any certified aptitude test before visa issuance or admission.[2]

Evidence about the worker

  • If the labor certification sets experience, training or education requirements: for work experience and job training, detailed statements from past employers, or actual employment documents such as payroll or tax records; if these cannot be obtained, the employer must show that and submit affidavits from people who worked with you. For post-secondary education and other formal training, documents from the school or institution showing periods of attendance, majors and degrees or certificates. For named workers these go with the petition; for unnamed workers, with the visa application or at admission.[2]
  • Jobs driving a commercial vehicle: if the labor certification requires English proficiency, the employer must submit evidence that each named worker is proficient in English, such as standardized test results or the employer's signed statement.[1]

How the process works

  1. 1. Labor certification

    Your employer applies to DOL for a temporary labor certification. A paper petition, or an online petition that names workers, is filed after DOL approves it; an online petition for unnamed workers may be filed once DOL issues a Notice of Acceptance.[1]

  2. 2. Petition to USCIS

    The employer files Form I-129 on paper or Form I-129H2A online; I-129H2A cannot be filed on paper. Generally one petition can cover all workers on one labor certification, with up to 25 named workers per petition, but named and unnamed workers cannot be on the same petition. Workers who are currently in the United States must be named.[1,2,7]

  3. 3. Visa

    After USCIS approves the petition, workers outside the United States apply for an H-2A visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate and then seek admission from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at a port of entry. Workers who do not need a visa seek admission directly.[1]

  4. 4. Admission

    You are admitted for the period of the approved petition, plus up to 10 days before it begins to travel to the worksite and up to 30 days after it ends to depart or to seek an extension based on a new job offer (subject to the 3-year limit). Unless otherwise authorized, you may work only during the petition's validity period.[2]

How long you can stay

USCIS generally may grant H-2A for up to the period authorized on the TLC. Extensions are in steps of up to 1 year, and each extension request needs a new, valid TLC covering the requested time. The exception: in emergent circumstances, as USCIS determines, a petition for workers continuing the same duties with the same employer may be extended for no more than 2 weeks without a new labor certification.[1,2]

After a total of 3 years in H-2A or H-2B status, you cannot be granted H-2A again until you have stayed outside the United States for an uninterrupted period of at least 60 days. Such an absence, at any time, starts a new 3-year period, and the employer must document it (for example with arrival and departure records, tax returns or records of employment abroad). A shorter absence does not reset the limit; brief trips to the United States for business or pleasure during the time abroad do not break the absence, but those days do not count toward the 60.[1,2,7]

If your H-2A job ends, you and your family are not considered out of status, and do not accrue unlawful presence, solely because the employment stopped, for 60 consecutive days or until the end of your authorized admission, whichever is shorter. This applies once per authorized period of admission. During it you may work only as otherwise authorized, and you may apply for an extension of stay or a change of status if otherwise eligible.[2]

If USCIS revokes your employer's H-2A petition, you and your family likewise are not considered out of status, and do not accrue unlawful presence, solely because of the revocation, for 60 days after it or until your authorized admission ends, whichever is shorter; during that time you may work only as otherwise authorized. The employer is liable for your reasonable cost of return transportation to your last place of foreign residence, unless you obtain an extension of stay based on an approved H-2A petition filed by a different employer.[2]

You cannot be given H-2A status if USCIS finds that at any time in the past 5 years you violated the terms or conditions of an H-2A admission, such as by staying past your authorized period or working without authorization. A violation that was not your fault, for example one caused by an employer's illegal or inappropriate conduct, does not count.[2]

Working, changing employers and extending

H-2A status lets you work only for the employer that petitioned for you. Under the portability rule, you may start work for a new employer once it properly files a nonfrivolous H-2A petition for you, or on the requested start date if later, as long as you were lawfully admitted in, or otherwise given, H-2A status; the petition asks for the same classification you hold and was filed before your authorized stay expired; and you have not worked without authorization since your last admission. That permission ends automatically when the petition is decided or withdrawn.[2,3]

While that petition is pending, the new employer must follow all H-2A program requirements for you, and working under it does not by itself make your stay or your employment unauthorized, even if the petition is later denied or withdrawn.[2]

To extend your stay, the employer files Form I-129; H-2A workers cannot use Form I-539 for this. You must be physically present in the United States when the extension is filed.[2,8,9]

Your employer must notify USCIS within 2 workdays if you do not report for work within 5 workdays of the later of the petition's start date or the start date the employer set; if you leave without notice and do not report for 5 consecutive workdays without the employer's consent; if you are terminated before the work is finished; or if you finish the work more than 30 days before the petition's end date. USCIS says this is an employer obligation, not an indication of wrongdoing by the worker, and that a notification alone is not conclusive evidence of the worker's current status.[1]

Fees you cannot be charged and other protections

No job placement fee, fee or penalty for breach of contract, or other fee, penalty or compensation related to the H-2A job may be collected, at any time, from you or anyone acting on your behalf by the employer or its employees, agents, attorneys, facilitators, recruiters or similar employment services, or by any joint employer. Prohibited fees can include wage deductions or withholding, and passing to you a cost that the law or regulations make the employer's responsibility counts as one. Being asked to repay costs that are your own responsibility and mainly for your benefit, such as government-required passport fees, is not prohibited.[1,2]

If USCIS finds that the employer, its employees, agents, recruiters or similar services, or any joint employer collected or agreed to collect prohibited fees, it will deny or revoke the petition, with limited exceptions. If the denied or revoked petition was filed on or after January 17, 2025, or the employer withdrew such a petition after USCIS questioned it on this basis, USCIS also denies H-2A and H-2B petitions from that employer or its successor for 1 year, and for 3 more years after that unless every affected worker has been reimbursed in full (or, only if a worker cannot be located or has died, their designee).[1,2]

If a petition to extend your H-2A stay or change your status includes credible documents showing that your employer retaliated against you for a reasonable claim of a violation or potential violation of program requirements, or for another protected activity, USCIS may treat a resulting loss of H-2A status as due to "extraordinary circumstances."[2]

Spouse and children

Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 may come in H-4 status. They are not eligible to work in the United States while in H-4 status, but they may study.[1,10]

H-4 family members of H-2 workers must also have a residence abroad, and they generally get the same visa validity, period of admission or limit of stay as the worker. They extend their stay on Form I-539, unless the worker's petition is for only one worker and the form version provides for including them.[9,10]

Fees

Form G-1055, edition 10/07/26 (USCIS fees), and 22 CFR 22.1 (consular fee). Check the current schedule before paying.
ItemAmountWhen it applies
Form I-129 (H-2A) or I-129H2A, named workers (up to 25 per petition)$1,090 paper / $1,040 onlineRegular petitioner
Same, small employer or nonprofit$545 paper or onlineSmall employer: 25 or fewer full-time-equivalent U.S. employees, counting affiliates and subsidiaries
Form I-129 (H-2A) or I-129H2A, unnamed workers only (no limit on number)$530 paper / $480 onlineRegular petitioner
Same, small employer or nonprofit$460 paper or onlineSame definitions as above
Asylum Program Fee$600 / $300 / $0Added to each H-2A petition: regular / small employer / nonprofit; no online discount
H visa application fee (consulate)$205Per person, each visa application; a reciprocity issuance fee may also apply
Form I-539 for H-4 family in the U.S.$470 paper / $420 onlineSpouse or children extending or changing status in the U.S.
Checked Oct 18, 2026[4,5,11,12]

High confidence Form G-1055 does not list H-2A among the Form I-129 classifications designated for premium processing (Form I-907), and premium processing can be requested only for a benefit that USCIS has announced on its website as available. USCIS says it already provides expedited processing of Form I-129 for H-2A petitions.[1,4]

H-2A and a green card

High confidence Unlike H-1B workers, H-2 workers do not have "dual intent" (under which seeking a green card does not stand in the way of getting or keeping the temporary status), so a plan to seek permanent residence may be considered evidence that you intend to abandon your foreign residence. Steps such as an approved permanent labor certification, a filed immigrant petition or a green card application will not, standing alone, be the basis for USCIS to deny your employer's H-2 petition, but they are weighed with all other facts in deciding whether you are maintaining H-2 status. How this applies depends on your facts; an immigration attorney can apply the rules to your situation.[2,10]

If the same employer, or its parent, subsidiary or affiliate, has filed a permanent labor certification for you or for another worker in the same position, the H-2A job is found not to be temporary or seasonal, even with a DOL finding. The employer can overcome this only by showing at least a six-month interruption of U.S. employment after H-2A status ends.[2]

Common mistakes

  • Filing an online petition for unnamed workers before DOL issues its Notice of Acceptance. USCIS will deny it, and it will also deny the petition if DOL denies the labor certification.[2]
  • Requesting more workers, across all petitions based on one labor certification, than DOL approved on it.[2]
  • Uploading a copy of the approved labor certification to an online unnamed-worker petition that was filed before DOL approved it, when USCIS has not asked for it, unless at least 3 business days have passed since DOL's approval and USCIS has taken no further action on the petition. USCIS says an unsolicited copy may delay processing.[1]

USCIS H-2A petition data

Official USCIS statistics

Official

Decision approval rate · FY2025

98.1%

Approved 30,042 · Denied 573

▼ 0.9 pts vs. same period a year earlier (FY2024: 99.0%)

H-2A · Decision approval rate
0%25%50%75%100%2017201920212023202598.1%
H-2A · Approved / Denied
ApprovedDenied
025k50k20172019202120232025

Approved ÷ (approved + denied) in the same period. Pending cases are not counted. Decisions in a quarter can come from petitions filed earlier, so this is the share of decisions that were approvals — not the chance that a petition filed today will be approved.

Official

Source: Nonimmigrant Worker Petitions by Case Status and Request for Evidence (RFE) (Fiscal Year 2024, Quarter 4) · Published Dec 16, 2024 · Retrieved Sep 27, 2026

Source: Nonimmigrant Worker Petitions by Case Status and Request for Evidence (RFE) (Fiscal Year 2025, Quarter 4) · Published Mar 24, 2026 · Retrieved Sep 27, 2026

Processing time (Form I-129, H-2A)

This covers USCIS processing of the petition only. Consular appointment waits are set by each embassy or consulate.

USCIS published processing time

Official

Median from USCIS's quarterly report

  • I-129 · FY2026 Q3 · all offices9.5 months

    All I-129 categories combined; the report does not split I-129 by category.

Half of the cases USCIS completed in that quarter took this long or less, from receipt to decision. Half took longer. The report does not say whether premium-processing cases are included. It is a different measure from the processing-times tool, so the two are not compared.

For the current figure for your form and office, check USCIS directly: USCIS processing times

Official

Source: All USCIS Application and Petition Form Types (Fiscal Year 2026, Quarter 3) · Retrieved Sep 27, 2026

Recent policy changes

  • January 17, 2025: new H-2 regulations took effect. USCIS can deny H-2A petitions filed on or after that date if the employer or its predecessor was found to have committed certain serious labor law violations or other program violations, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations no longer require USCIS to consider whether the worker's country is on a designated eligible-country list.[1]
  • June 15, 2026: following the Department of State's increased screening of applicants seeking to drive commercial motor vehicles, and the Department of Labor's updated guidance effective that day, USCIS will generally accept visas issued after June 15, 2026, for jobs that require driving a commercial motor vehicle, as proof of English proficiency.[1]

Recent policy changes

Official

Updates

Ask WELIVEINUSA Visa

Ask WELIVEINUSA Visa

Answers come from our sourced database and your own timeline, sorted into fact, public data, inference and unknown. No AI model is used in this version, so questions outside what we cover get an honest "not covered".

Questions people ask

Can I apply for H-2A on my own?

Not without an employer. A U.S. employer, a U.S. agent as described in the regulations, or an association of U.S. agricultural producers named as a joint employer must file the petition for you. After USCIS approves it, you apply for the visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate if you need one.[1]

Is there a yearly cap on H-2A?

High confidence Neither list of annual limits names H-2A. The statute's fiscal-year limits for temporary workers (8 U.S.C. 1184(g)(1)) cover H-1B and H-2B, and the regulation's numerical limits cover H-1B, H-2B, H-3 special education exchange participants and H-1C.[2,13]

Can my spouse work in the U.S.?

Not in H-4 status: H-4 status does not come with permission to work, and USCIS says family members of H-2A workers are not eligible for employment while in H-4. A spouse who holds a work-authorized status of their own, other than H-4, can work under that status.[1,2,10]

Can a recruiter charge me a fee for the job?

No fee, penalty or other compensation related to the H-2A job may be collected from you by the employer, its agents, recruiters or similar services, at any time. For petitions filed on or after January 17, 2025, if USCIS finds that this happened, it denies or revokes the petition unless the employer proves, by clear and convincing evidence, a narrow set of conditions that include fully reimbursing every affected worker (or, only if a worker cannot be located or has died, their designee).[1,2]

Can I ask USCIS about my case myself?

USCIS gives case-specific information only to authorized people, such as the petitioner and attorneys of record; for H-2A it treats the worker as an unauthorized third party. If a petition has been pending more than 15 days with no decision or request for evidence, the petitioner may call the USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283.[1]

Related categories

Content last reviewed: Oct 18, 2026 · General information, not legal advice.

Sources

  1. 1.H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers - USCISUSCIS · Agency page · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  2. 2.8 CFR 214.2(h) - Temporary employees (H-1B)eCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  3. 3.8 CFR 274a.12 - Classes of aliens authorized to accept employmenteCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  4. 4.Fee Schedule (Form G-1055) - USCISUSCIS · Form / instructions · Checked Oct 12, 2026
  5. 5.8 CFR 106.2 - USCIS feeseCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  6. 6.8 U.S.C. 1101 (INA 101) - Definitions, incl. 101(a)(15)(E), (H), (L), 101(a)(44), 101(a)(45)U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Law Revision Counsel · Statute · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  7. 7.Instructions for Form I-129 (edition 09/09/26)USCIS · Form / instructions · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  8. 8.I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status - USCISUSCIS · Form / instructions · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  9. 9.8 CFR 214.1 - Requirements for admission, extension, and maintenance of statuseCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  10. 10.9 FAM 402.10 TEMPORARY WORKERS AND TRAINEES - H VISASU.S. Department of State (Foreign Affairs Manual) · USCIS Policy Manual · Checked Oct 18, 2026
  11. 11.8 CFR 106.1 - Fee requirements (definitions)eCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Oct 12, 2026
  12. 12.22 CFR 22.1 - Schedule of fees for consular services (Department of State)eCFR (Office of the Federal Register) · Regulation · Checked Sep 27, 2026
  13. 13.8 U.S.C. 1184 (INA 214) - Admission of nonimmigrantsU.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Law Revision Counsel · Statute · Checked Sep 27, 2026