Sponsors
The bill provides many long‑working farmworkers and their employers with renewable, temporary legal work authorization and enforcement protections while imposing substantial fees, leaving long‑term status unresolved, excluding some needy benefit‑recipients, and raising rule‑of‑law concerns.
Noncitizen farmworkers with ≥2 years of qualifying agricultural labor can obtain renewable, H‑2A–style temporary status (up to 3 years) that provides lawful work authorization.
Eligible covered aliens are shielded from certain inadmissibility and removability grounds and from prosecution for prior unlawful entry, lowering deportation risk for those who seek to reapply.
Employers who hire covered aliens are protected from criminal employer‑prosecution under INA 274A, reducing legal risk and compliance exposure for farms and agricultural businesses.
Applicants and employers must each pay at least $2,500 to participate, imposing significant upfront costs on workers and especially on small farms.
The status is temporary (three‑year increments), leaving long‑term immigration status unresolved and likely perpetuating reliance on temporary visas instead of a permanent pathway.
Workers who unlawfully received public benefits are excluded, which may bar some needy agricultural workers from the program and create uneven access to relief.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a temporary, three-year pathway for certain noncitizens who performed agricultural labor to obtain an H‑2A–style nonimmigrant agricultural worker status. Eligible applicants must have done at least two years of qualifying agricultural work after Jan 1, 2021, and meet benefit-use and other rules; the pathway waives specified inadmissibility grounds for qualifying applicants who departed or were removed before enactment, limits certain grounds of removability during the covered period, requires fees from both the worker and employer, grants limited immunity from some immigration enforcement and employer-sanctions provisions for conduct before admission, and allows initial admissions of up to three years with three‑year renewals.
Creates a three‑year temporary H‑2A–style eligibility pathway for certain former agricultural workers, waiving some inadmissibility/removability grounds, imposing fees, and allowing 3‑year admissions with renewals.
Introduced July 23, 2025 by Derrick Van Orden · Last progress July 23, 2025