How Long Island farmers and other employers maintain their workforce with special visas

Employers across the United States — Long Island included — often struggle to fill jobs that are seasonal or temporary, like those in agriculture, landscaping or construction.

The federal government has established two visa programs for foreign temporary workers to meet these labor shortages: H-2A, for agriculture, and H-2B, for everything else. 

Participation in these programs is strong, and some employers say they should be expanded, but critics say the programs keep wages low for those jobs and open the workers to exploitation.

How do the visas work?

They follow four basic steps, starting with Department of Labor certification that there are insufficient American workers to do the job and that employment of the foreign workers will not adversely impact wages and working conditions of workers already in the U.S. With that certification, an employer can petition the Department of Homeland Security to bring in foreign workers. Workers then apply for a visa from the Department of State. Finally, workers seek admission from DHS at a port of entry.

Both visas require employers to provide workers wages and benefits they would provide non-visa workers. For H-2B employers, that means the prevailing wage rate or federal state or local minimum wage, whichever is higher.

Nationally in fiscal 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average H-2A contract offered 24 weeks of employment at an average hourly wage of $13, though the wage floor for H-2A workers on Long Island is now a little more than $18, said Bill Zalakar, executive director of the Long Island Farm Bureau.

H-2A employers must also provide housing, transportation and benefits, including workers’ compensation insurance. H-2B employers must pay for benefits including transportation and visa costs.

How have the number of visas changed over time?

The number of visas of both types issued in 1992 was less than 20,000. H-2A numbers topped 100,000 in 2015 and have been rising steeply since, reaching nearly 400,000 in 2025. There is no statutory limit to the number of those visas. H-2B visas are capped at 66,000, but since 2017 Congress has authorized DHS to exceed the cap. In December, DHS and the federal Department of Labor announced a 50% cut to a tranche of seasonal visas; the cut was later reversed, and about 130,000 visas will be issued through the program in 2026.

How are these visas used on Long Island?

In 2025, New York had 12,084, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data hub.  

Many of those visas were for Long Island, where farms hire 2,000 seasonal workers every year. H-2A visa holders make up about half of Long Island's agricultural workforce, a portion that has grown over time as farmers have aged and Americans have moved to other kinds of work, Zalakar said.

New York State was not a big recipient of H-2B certifications, but Long Island was this year: 162 employers from New York’s First Congressional District, which covers the East End and part of the North Shore, will host 2,077 workers through the program, one of the highest utilization rates in the nation, according to data from the Seasonal Employment Alliance, an employer advocacy group. 

What are the concerns?

In 2024, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report calling for better processing and oversight in the H-2A visa program. According to the report, from fiscal year 2018 to fiscal year 2023, 84% of DOL's investigations of employers using the program found one or more violations. Roughly 2,400 investigations found 69,294 violations related to pay, employer-provided transportation and other issues including cost-shifting, meals and housing.

What about TPS?

Some agriculture workers in the U.S. have TPS, or temporary protected status, but the Trump administration is ending or considering ending TPS for people from some countries, which could impact the agriculture job market. Significantly, TPS for El Salvador, home country for some Long Island farmworkers, is scheduled to expire Sept. 9. About 17,000 Salvadorans live in New York, many on Long Island.