State Department Agrees to Waive H-2A Interview Requirements

WASHINGTON, DC – As demand has grown for more ag labor, so has the demand for H-2A visas. However with the recent closing of the borders, especially with Mexico the number one source of farm labor in the United States, concern grew among farmers and ranchers. According to Politico, USDA announced late Thursday that the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security have agreed to waive in-person interview requirements for H-2A and H-2B visa applicants. The temporary change “streamlines the application process and helps provide steady labor for the agriculture sector during this time of uncertainty. Demand for H-2A visas, reserved for agricultural labor, jumped 11 percent last year; H-2B visas, for non-agricultural temporary workers, is capped by Congress at 66,000.