The Labor Department is temporarily suspending the collection of H-2A certification fees.
The change comes as officials move to a new electronics system. During the suspension, employers will not be invoiced or billed retroactively for H-2A application fees.
The agency says an update on when fees will resume will be published in a future federal register notice.
The push for agriculutre labor reform is gaining urgency in 2025.
Idaho Dairymen’s Association says that the current H-2A program does not work for livestock and calls for a livible visa program.
According to Rick Naerebout, “We just need a livable Visa program. So, you know that’s going to our focus. And the other piece of our focus will be legalizing the exisitng workers, so work them into whatever that visa program looks like, Find a way to work them into it, and that involves, you know, a background check and a montetary penalty. We understand they’ve committed a misdemeanor being in a country without status, and that there should be some sort of background check with them being in the country. We’ve got no issue with that. We’ve got no issue with paying a monetary penalty.”
He said that clearing those hurdles would help the dairy industry keep feding the U.S. and the world.
He also noted that while D.C. may not fully get livestock needs, the Idaho legislation understands.
“It does feel like every time we start to get some momentum, when we start to get a piece of legislation to move, you’ve got other politics that come into play that disrupt it and derail the effort and we end up with nothing. But those are things that are completely out of our control.”
Naerebout said other delegations and states will need to step up if true ag labor reform is going to take place.
