Sponsors (2)
The bill aims to speed and centralize H‑2A petition processing to help employers fill seasonal labor needs more quickly, but it shifts authority to DHS in ways that may create timing conflicts and weaken Labor Department oversight and worker protections.
Farmers, seasonal employers, and small agricultural businesses can begin H‑2A petition adjudication earlier, which may speed hiring of seasonal foreign workers and reduce delays in filling critical farm labor needs.
State and federal case processing may be streamlined by placing final adjudicative authority with DHS, concentrating immigration decision-making in a single agency and potentially reducing interagency back-and-forth.
Immigrant workers and employers risk receiving DHS decisions before the Labor Department completes its labor‑market certification, creating potential inconsistent outcomes, wasted processing, and uncertainty for hiring plans.
Centralizing final adjudicative authority in DHS reduces the Labor Department's oversight role, which could weaken protections and advocacy focused on worker rights and conditions.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Mandates use of State OEWS estimates to set H‑2B adverse effect wages and allows DHS to start H‑2A petition processing before Labor finishes certification.
Requires the Department of Labor to use State-level Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) estimates to calculate the adverse effect wage rate paid to H‑2B nonimmigrant workers, and authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to start processing H‑2A petitions while the Department of Labor is still deciding the required labor certification. The bill shifts a procedural authority reference to DHS and creates limited concurrent processing so petition adjudication can begin earlier. The changes mainly affect employers who hire temporary foreign workers and the H‑2A/H‑2B workers themselves by changing how wages are calculated for H‑2B positions and by potentially speeding up the timeline for H‑2A petition adjudication. No new funding or appropriations are created; the bill makes administrative and regulatory changes to existing program rules.
Introduced December 18, 2025 by Monica De La Cruz · Last progress December 18, 2025