Sponsors (65)
Official title: To modernize the process for the admission of H-2A workers, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 30, 2026 by Glenn Thompson · Last progress June 30, 2026
The bill modernizes and centralizes H‑2A application and oversight—speeding processing and improving worker housing and safety transparency—but concentrates authority in DHS, tightens procedural timelines, narrows some eligibility definitions, and shifts technical, privacy, and cost burdens onto employers, workers, and agencies.
Employers (and H-2A applicants) will use a centralized online H-2A platform and national job registry that increases transparency of openings, allows concurrent review by DHS/DOL/State, reduces duplicate filings, and centralizes fee payment and status updates.
Employers will get faster, more predictable labor-certification timing (e.g., certifications issued at least 30 days before work begins when recruitment criteria are met), reducing last-minute disruptions to hiring and operations.
H-2A workers will gain stronger health and safety protections: inspected, standards‑compliant housing with capped daily charges and required heat‑illness prevention plans, and potential for improved enforcement informed by a GAO housing assessment.
Immigration applicants and states face more concentrated authority in DHS for adjudication and operational control, which could politicize decisions and reduce independent checks on immigration determinations.
Employers (especially small farms) face tighter procedural deadlines (e.g., 7‑day resubmission windows, 15‑day adjudication targets) and extended recruitment obligations (must continue accepting U.S. referrals until final H‑2A worker departs), raising administrative burden and increasing the risk of missed deadlines, errors, or denials.
Narrowed statutory definitions and the fixed 'temporary' cutoff at under 350 days could exclude some agricultural roles and long-season but temporary jobs (shrinking the available labor pool and complicating hiring for certain operations).
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Shifts H‑2A responsibilities to DHS, narrows and codifies "agricultural" and "temporary," tightens deadlines, requires a one‑year single online H‑2A processing platform, and orders a GAO housing report.
Makes changes to the H‑2A agricultural guest‑worker program to shift key responsibilities to the Department of Homeland Security, narrow and clarify what counts as "agricultural" and "temporary" work, shorten some employer response deadlines, and require a one‑year build of a single online H‑2A processing platform. It also directs a Government Accountability Office report on H‑2A housing and sets the amendments to take effect one year after enactment with authority for interim rules.