Filing for H-2A Petitions Now Centralized by the USCIS

As of December 10, 2007, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services will only be accepting H-2A petitions for temporary or seasonal agricultural workers if they are to be mailed to the USCIS California Service Center. These instructions were as stated in a Federal Register notice Volume 72, Number 217, dated on November 9, 2007. It was previously set that both the California and Vermont Service Centers can accept H-2A petitions, however, in this case, the USCIS decides to centralize the processing.

Direct mail should be sent to the following address: US Citizenship and Immigration Services, California Service Center, ATTN: H-2A Processing Unit, PO Box 10140, Laguna Niguel, CA 92607-1040. However, for private couriers or those who deliver via non-United States Postal Service (USPS) modes should address their petitions to: US Citizenship and Immigration Services, California Service Center, ATTN: H-2A Processing Unit, 24000 Avila Road, Room 2312, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677.

There are other options, too, according to the Federal Register notice. The H-2A petition may also be filed over the internet. The Form I-129 can be applied for electronically by checking out the USCIS website at http://www.uscis.gov. Furthermore, the USCIS stresses that any H-2A petition that is received elsewhere outside of the California Service Center on or after the abovementioned date of December 10, 2007, will be returned to the sender. After which, he or she should mail the petition again, following the addresses mentioned.

A little background information on the H-2A Certification: this program is for agricultural employers to be able to hire foreign agricultural workers on a temporary or seasonal basis. This can be done in instances when the employer has a shortage of domestic laborers, which is why getting foreign workers to do the job can be allowed, but for a specified time or season, such as the periods covering the growth and harvest of specific crops.

Employers who are allowed or qualified to file for H-2A petition are those who have individual proprietorship of their agricultural business, or a partnership or corporation. Authorized agents such as attorneys or an association may also file the H-2A petition as a representative of the employer. Also, the said employer should be able to establish that he or she will only be hiring the foreign agricultural workers on a temporary basis.

Additional requirements for H-2A certification: the employer should have adequately advertised for job opening for US workers. Aside from that, the pay per hour basis of H-2A workers should be equal to that of regular workers.