Working Wednesday: New Rules for Temporary/Seasonal Foreign Workers

The title of this blog was translated for the average reader from U.S. Department of Labor's Announcement: the H-2B program that amends its regulations governing the certification of the employment of non-immigrant workers performing temporary or seasonal non-agricultural labor or services. A good example of this would be foreign employees at amusement parks.

This is a good time to review several terms as to not confuse the reader.

Alien: A person not a citizen or national of the United States.

Immigrant: By government terms, this is known as "Permanent Resident Alien". These are legal aliens allowed to live here permanently. We commonly refer to them as "immigrants".

Refugee: A person outside of their country of nationality who is unable or unwilling to return because of persecution or a well founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinions.

All of these have special regulations, rules, and procedures. It is important for employers to know the difference and if you plan to hire someone that is part of one of these programs, you may do well to seek  expert advice. Case in point, the new regulations, called "Final Rule" for the H-2B program that will take effect April 23, 2012. And yes, there is a H-2A program. In short, it is for seasonal non-immigrants who pick crops.

The revised Final Rule changes:
1. a new process by which employers obtain a temporary labor certification from the Department for use in petitioning the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to employ a non-immigrant worker in H-2B status.
2. new regulations that provide increased worker protections for both U.S. and foreign workers.
3. creates a national electronic job registry for all H-2B job orders to improve U.S. worker access to these temporary jobs.
4. enhances recruitment of U.S. workers from across the country and increases the amount of time for which U.S. workers must be recruited and hired
5. requires the rehiring of former employees when available.

The most important point to remember in both H-2 A and B programs is that these programs are still about protecting potential American job seekers. Many of the regulations are about this and be sure you have researched this thoroughly. Again, I encourage you to seek out expert advice.


If you want more information about the new regulations for H-2B, I would start with the U.S. Department of Labor's website on the subject: http://www.dol.gov/whd/immigration/H2BFinalRule/index.htm. It has a screen that has side-by-side comparisons of the old regulations(2008 version) and the new one to come out in April (2012 version).

Alert: Since writing this blog, it has come to my attention that the H-2A guidebook has also been revised as of February 29th. Please look into this if you are an agricultural employer. See: http://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/