Sponsors
Introduced November 19, 2025 by Rick W. Allen · Last progress November 19, 2025
The bill centralizes H‑2A administration and standardizes employer obligations (wages, housing, eligibility) to simplify compliance and deter exploitation, but it shortens stays, tightens re‑entry and eligibility rules, caps wages below prevailing levels, shifts enforcement toward Agriculture, and reduces some worker protections and legal access — trading worker continuity and protections for greater employer predictability and immigration control.
Small agricultural employers (and state agencies that interact with them) gain a single, clearer administrative home for H‑2A rules under Agriculture and an employer-misconduct linkage to DHS with notice/hearing procedures, simplifying compliance and deterring fraud.
Agricultural employers get predictable maximum labor-cost exposure because required wages are capped at 115% of the greater of the Federal or State minimum wage.
Employers must provide worker housing or a housing allowance tied to HUD fair market rents, giving farmworkers clearer housing standards and guaranteed assistance levels.
H‑2A workers will have shorter authorized stays and face a two‑month re‑application bar after two years, disrupting continuity for workers and their families.
Capping required wages at 115% of minimum wage may lower pay relative to current H‑2A prevailing wages, reducing earnings for farmworkers.
Shifting enforcement responsibility from the Department of Labor to USDA risks weakening worker‑protection focus and could reduce enforcement of labor standards.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Recasts H‑2A rules: shifts authority to USDA, expands 'agricultural' definition, caps employer wage at 115% of higher federal/state minimum, limits stays and extensions, and tightens experience, housing, and recruitment rules.
Changes to the H‑2A farmworker program move several authorities from the Department of Labor to the Department of Agriculture, broaden what counts as "agricultural labor or services," and tighten who can claim prior work experience. Employer obligations are changed: the required wage is capped at 115% of the greater of the federal or state minimum wage, housing rules and recruitment requirements are revised, and employers must meet specific recruitment steps to obtain extensions. The bill also shortens typical H‑2A stays to one year with a single one‑year extension conditional on USDA certification, requires departure after two full years with a short re‑application bar, and introduces visa-revocation rules tied to work lapses. These changes affect farm employers, H‑2A workers and applicants, federal agencies (USDA and DHS), and state labor markets. They create new compliance and documentation duties for employers and add limits on worker eligibility and length of stay that could reduce flexibility for both employers and temporary workers.