The announcement also provides that the Administration has directed the Department of Labor (DOL) to review the existing regulations implementing the H- 2A program and to institute changes intended to provide agricultural employers with an orderly and timely flow of legal workers.
In the H-2B program, the Department will be issuing regulations intended to reduce the time for processing applications by moving from a government certified system requiring DOL to issue labor certifications to an “employer-attested” system. This will allow employers to attest that they have followed the procedures and could not find willing American workers.
Finally, the Administration will be exploring ways to expedite background checks on alien workers in order to permit visas to be issued more promptly. All these reforms are intended to make the temporary worker programs more responsive to the needs of employers.
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