May 18, 2016
www.gfb.org
Vol. 34 No. 20
USCIS, STATE DEPARTMENT LAUNCH ONLINE H-2A APPROVAL SYSTEM The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and the U.S. State Department announced on May 9 the launch of electronic approval for Form I-129, petition for a nonimmigrant worker, for the H-2A classification. The program, which went into effect May 11 according to an announcement from USCIS, allows the agency to send approval information for H-2A petitions to the State Department by the end of the next business day. The State Department will accept the electronic information in place of a Form I-797 approval notice and allow processing of H-2A visa applications. The USCIS announced the move after the American Farm Bureau Federation and numerous members of Congress, including 12 of Georgia’s 16 members, raised concerns over delays in processing H-2A applications. Paperwork backlogs in the H-2A program have resulted in extensive shortages of labor for many farmers and in some cases have led to farmers losing crops that were not harvested in time. "Farm Bureau is pleased to see the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department launching a new online approval platform that will hopefully expedite H2A processing,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. "These visa approval delays have gone on far too long and cost farmers across the country hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost business. Without workers in place to plant, tend and harvest, crops are going to waste while bureaucratic paperwork keeps piling up.” The USCIS indicated it will continue the current practice of updating case status online at https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do upon approving a case and mailing approval notices to petitioners. The USCIS also announced it will use prepaid mail notices to petitioners. Employers will not be charged any additional fees for the USCIS/DOS e-Approval process. “Farm Bureau raised the flag on this major breakdown in our food-growing system in hopes that agencies would find an immediate solution, and we believe USCIS and DOS are taking an important step to bring the H-2A processing system into the 21st century,” Duvall said. “However, farmers across the country are still experiencing delays due to this backlog that spans multiple agencies. We will continue to work with congressional leaders and the agencies to ensure farmers get workers by their date of need.”