This is a part of a series of immigration guides designed to help clients understand all of the available immigration options in one place; here we offer a guide on immigration for farmers and ranchers. You could consider this guide a special case of our immigration guide for employers, agricultural ones. Our guide for farmers and ranchers grew out of almost twenty five years of helping agricultural employers, our clients, with their immigration needs. A complaint we often hear is that it is impossible to find quality employees for farm and ranch work. The impossible is made possible through the options discussed in this article.
Temporary Help: H-2A Visa
Unable to find local reliable help, many farmers and ranchers have turned to the H-2A program. This program helps in the provision of temporary workers. We thoroughly cover it in our H-2A guide. If you are in need of temporary help, we can advise you on the H-2A program.
We petition for workers – on your behalf – that you’ve identified. While the program delivers eligible workers from H-2A approved countries, it is on an annual basis and is expensive. The H-2A program gives an agricultural employer the benefit of having an employee for approximately 9½ months. This period coincides with the typical agricultural season.
As the program is annual, the employer may request the same employee for the next year. Alternatively, if the employer finds that the H-2A employee is less than satisfactory, the employer can request a different employee for the next agricultural season. Having the same employee for the next season allows the farmer or rancher to have the services of a trained employee.
The employee has experience in the required work. Many farmers or ranchers report having the same employee come to work for the three or four years in a row. At this point, farmers and ranchers are often completely satisfied with their H-2A employees and may be looking for a permanent solution.
Not every operation hires only for its own ground. If you supply crews to neighboring farms for fencing, tillage, or harvest, you are a labor contractor in DOL’s eyes, and the H-2A labor contractor rules work differently – starting with a worksite list you have to file up front.
Temporary to Permanent Employment for the H-2A Employee
We have a helpful guide the motivation for their shift from temporary to permanent employment. An employee who has worked faithfully for the same employer for years may request that the farmer or rancher sponsor them for a green card. Farmers or ranchers should consider this request carefully. A negative response may lead the employee to look for another H-2A employer that will sponsor him.
We can help with this temporary-to-permanent transition. We have successfully helped farmers and ranchers convert H-2A employees into full-time permanent employees. An example of an employment-based Green Card would be the result of this transition of an employee from a temporary non-immigrant status, with an H-2A status, to lawful permanent residency. One specialized example is Canadian custom combine operations working U.S. harvests
Immigration Resource Guide does have a helpful guide for this process too. It usually involves three steps that take approximately 14 months to two years. If timed correctly, the H-2A employee can continue to work for the sponsoring farmer or rancher during the process.
Government regulations for this process require the farmer or rancher to bear the costs for it. The green card process is definitely not cheap – it includes legal fees, USCIS filing fees, and required advertising. However, many farmers and ranchers find that the payback period is satisfactory, given the annual cost of the H-2A visa. Employers going down that road should also understand the combined-duties pitfall in farm green card cases. Before any recruitment begins, the wage request itself has to be built correctly — our guide to the PERM prevailing wage step explains how. If the Department of Labor questions the wage request for a farm position, our guide to answering a prevailing wage RFI explains the response rules and the deadline. Because ranch and farm returns show loss years more often than most, the employer should also understand how USCIS treats a loss year on the I-140 before the priority date is set.
Keeping H-2A Workers Beyond One Season
The standard H-2A pattern assumes workers return home between seasons. But ranchers and farmers often invest significant resources in training workers and may want to retain them year-round or transition them to permanent employees.
This creates planning challenges:
– H-2A workers can stay continuously for a maximum of three years before requiring a 60-day departure
– Most agricultural positions qualify as EB-3 Other Workers (positions requiring less than two years of experience)
– EB-3 Other Workers currently wait 4-5 years from labor certification filing to green card approval
– The timeline gap means workers cannot complete the green card process within the three-year H-2A window
Options exist for managing this challenge, including:
– Sequential H-2A positions coordinated between complementary seasonal operations (summer/winter)
– Two-season certification strategies if you have distinct seasonal agricultural activities
– Planned re-entry cycles for workers during the green card waiting period
– Strategic timing of labor certification filings to minimize gaps
The key is starting green card planning early—by Year 1 or early Year 2 of H-2A employment, not waiting until Year 3 when it’s too late to keep the worker continuously employed during the priority date wait.
For employers considering these options, see our detailed analysis: Strategic Planning for H-2A Workers Staying Longer Than One Season.
This is complex work requiring coordination across temporary and permanent immigration categories. It’s not work for agents—it requires attorney guidance to navigate multi-year strategies and adapt as circumstances change.
Temporary Help: H-2B Visa
Besides helping farmers and ranchers with temporary agricultural employees, and moving those employees from temporary to permanent immigration status, we can also help you with H-2B temporary employees. Normally, a farm or ranch – as an agribusiness operation – would have no need of, and would not qualify for H-2B temporary workers. Yet, we are seeing more and more farms and ranches that have a concurrent guest ranch operation.
Running a dude ranch is not an agricultural business. Even if your guests get to work on the ranch as regularly-hired farm hands, the ranch does not produce agricultural commodities. It is, therefore, like other service businesses in the United States and is eligible for H-2B employees. For a general overview of the H-2B program, please consult our H-2B visa page.
New H-2A employers often ask whether they must build permanent bunkhouses or if alternatives like RVs and mobile homes for H-2A housing are permissible under DOL regulations
Compliance and Risk Management for Agricultural Employers
Successfully managing foreign workers involves more than just obtaining the proper visas. Smart agricultural employers also focus on compliance and risk management to protect their operations and workers.
Understanding Your Compliance Obligations
When you employ H-2A or other foreign workers, you take on specific legal responsibilities:
- Housing and safety standards must be maintained throughout the work period
- Wage and hour compliance with both federal and state requirements
- Record-keeping obligations for auditing and verification purposes
- Worker transportation and safety requirements
Criminal Issues and Worker Status
One area that often catches agricultural employers off-guard involves criminal charges against their workers. This is particularly common with DUI offenses, as workers may borrow farm vehicles for personal use. Key points to understand:
- Current season impact: Criminal charges typically don’t immediately terminate a worker’s authorized stay
- Future hiring implications: Workers with criminal convictions may face difficulties obtaining visas for future seasons
- Your role as employer: While you cannot provide legal representation for criminal matters, understanding the immigration implications helps you make informed decisions
Protecting Your Agricultural Investment
Given the significant time and expense involved in securing reliable workers, many successful agricultural employers implement risk management strategies:
- Worker education about U.S. laws and consequences
- Clear policies regarding use of farm vehicles and equipment
- Emergency procedures for connecting workers with qualified legal help when needed
- Immigration planning for valuable workers facing potential status complications
Proposed Legislative Changes
Agricultural employers should be aware that Congress is considering legislation that would make any DUI conviction grounds for automatic deportation of non-U.S. citizens. This would eliminate current discretionary protections and make compliance education even more critical.
Getting Professional Guidance
Immigration law intersects with criminal law, employment law, and agricultural regulations in complex ways. When issues arise, having experienced legal counsel helps you:
- Understand the immigration implications of worker arrests or charges
- Develop strategies for retaining valuable workers facing status complications
- Navigate the intersection of criminal and immigration consequences
- Plan for regulatory changes that may affect your workforce
For detailed information about how criminal charges affect agricultural workers, see our guide: DUI Charges and Your H-2A Visa: What Agricultural Workers Need to Know.
How We Can Help
If you are a farmer or rancher that needs help, we can get you started on the H-2A program. Firstly, you will need to have identified a worker from an H-2A eligible country. If you already have a long-term H-2A worker, we can help you with the transition of this worker from temporary to permanent status in United States.
Lastly, We can help a guest ranch get temporary employees through the H-2B program. If you have any of these needs, please contact us for more information. We will be happy to provide you with one of our strategy consultations. We can help by taking the burden of visa applications off your shoulders so that you can focus on the thing you love: farming and ranching.
