H-2A Employee Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

A prospective H-2A employee should look for a variety of traits in an H-2A agency including:

• Is accessible and answers the phone

• Knows the U.S. agricultural market (the farmers) and can address their specific labor needs

• Knows and understands their clients (the farmers) and has unique insights into their labor needs and challenges 

• Has a structured process for understanding and identifying what a U.S. agricultural employer wants and is looking for in an H-2A employee 

• Has open communication and a working relationship with H-2A employers

• Understands and can guide you through your country’s side of the H-2A process

• Is engaged with placed H-2A employees, looks after them, communicates with them, understands some of the most common challenges facing placed H-2A employees, and provides support before and after the job contract expires 

• Sands up for the well-being, safety, and fair treatment of placed H-2A employees 

• Represents their placed H-2A employees and comes between an employer and their employee to mediate conflict and help navigate challenges 

• Listens to both sides of an argument or issue and does their best to defuse the situation.  If it is not possible to satisfy both parties, the agent or recruiter does their best to give that H-2A employee a second chance with another employer and assists the worker in finding another position before the worker runs out of seasonal eligibility. 

• Cares enough to truly determine and assess what a candidate knows and the talents, skills, and knowledge an H-2A employee brings to the table and then does their best to match a worker with the correct agricultural employer 

• Has an integrated system or database to present a candidate’s knowledge, skills, talents, and expertise to agricultural employers

• Has a tracking and archive system to help with a candidate’s career path in the U.S. and makes it easier to be able to change employment or positions should the situation arise 

• Cares deeply about your success and who treats as you more than a number or a shiny dollar sign 

Don’t risk your future in the hands of a shady, uninformed, or unethical H-2A agency or recruiter. 

A few of the “red flags” to look for include but are not limited to:  

• Pop up out of nowhere without the credibility, experience, or knowledge of a trusted organization

• Ask interested H-2A candidates for money upfront in exchange for job placement or who promise favorability over other candidates in exchange for fees. The H-2A visa program does not allow agents and recruiters to ask for money in exchange for job placements. 

• Have never even been to the U.S., have no experience with the H-2A process, and wing the information and process to “sell” opportunities to innocent, uninformed hopeful H-2A candidates or workers

• Are former H-2A employees who went over to the U.S. one time to work and now recruit. (These former employees placed a few employees and now believe they are expert recruiters and proceed to “sell” opportunities to innocent uninformed H-2A candidates or workers). 

• Directly or indirectly ask uninformed workers for fees such as for airplane tickets. (Many times, these recruiters add a commission fee to an employee’s package and keep it for themselves). 

• Ask for an admin fee from their H-2A employees or applicants for their work on the home country’s side of the process  

• Ask for a deposit from H-2A candidates and employees with the promise that if they (the hopeful employee) complete the season, they will return the deposit amount. Again, collecting fees from hopeful, interested H-2A candidates is against program rules.  

• Grab an interested H-2A candidate and offer them to a farmer without much effort or thought in terms of who the candidates are what they know and what they bring to the table

• Are unwilling to get involved in the H-2A employer/employee relationship when it gets complicated and conflict arises 

• Place an H-2A candidate in a position and then forget about them. Many times, we see this play out in terms of job satisfaction. A recruiter or an agent tells a placed H-2A employee that the agency doesn’t have any part in the matter given the employee is not happy with an H-2A employer. (Essentially saying job satisfaction is your problem and if you don't like it, then you can find your own job. They place a candidate and then that placed H-2A employee doesn’t matter anymore).  

• Threaten H-2A employees when a job they helped place them in falls apart in the U.S. (Some of the most common threats involve reporting placed H-2A employees to ICE or CBP [Immigration Services] or threatening H-2A employees that they will report them to their country’s consulate and they will never get an H-2A work visa again).

• Threaten already placed H-2A employees and their families with retribution if that placed employee is not willing to continue to work the term of the contract, especially after the employee reported abuse and mistreatment 

Although it’s possible to navigate the H-2A work visa program on your own, it’s always best to work with a reputable recruiter who partners with a U.S.-based H-2A agency. H-2A employees should be wary of not using an agency or a recruiter because it will create a range of issues throughout their job contract such as:  

• No real knowledge of the employer or the situation they will be placed in and cannot address the situation when they are different from what the employer said they wanted.

• A U.S.-based agency polices the H-2A employee and employer relationship and ensures that H-2A employees are not exploited, taken advantage of, or neglected.

• Nobody to call in the U.S. in times of trouble, leaving them even more vulnerable to potential abuse and mistreatment. You won’t have a voice or you won’t have anywhere to turn if things go wrong with your employer.  

There are plenty of drawbacks to not using a U.S.-based H-2A agency such as:

• The H-2A program is a program designed specifically for American, U.S.-based farmers, and agriculture businesses regulated by the American government, so an H-2A agency in an employee’s home country probably doesn’t understand all of the regulations and requirements. 

• An agency in a candidate’s home country may have already been paid and made their money and doesn't care what happens to an H-2A employee.

• An agency in an H-2A employee’s home country does not want to get involved with an H-2A employee’s issues – recruiters want their money and that is all. They shrug their shoulders at your problems because they made their money and that’s all they’re worried about. 

• An agency in an H-2A candidate’s home country has no clue about that employee’s U.S. rights, position, and options moving forward. 

• An agency in a candidate’s home country likely believes they are far away from the arm of U.S. labor laws (if the worker taps out, they made the fees they asked of an H-2A employee, and that employee is on their own in the U.S.).

• An Agency in a candidate’s home country does not have to respond to a U.S. employer, especially if they believe they will just make money out of an H-2A employee and the fees they ask of them. 

• An Agency in an H-2A candidate’s home country may feel it was just a case of “tough luck” if the position does not work out, or they might tell a placed H-2A employee the position did not work out because the employee was not good enough, an employee did not try hard enough, or that the employee is the problem, not the agency or the employer.