Notice2025-14510
Temporary Suspension of H-2A Certification Fees
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
July 31, 2025
Effective
September 2, 2025
Issuing agencies
Labor DepartmentEmployment and Training Administration
Abstract
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the Department of Labor (DOL or Department) is issuing this notice to announce that it is temporarily suspending the collection of H-2A labor certification fees. Implementing a temporary suspension period will allow ETA's Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) to move toward accepting electronic fees, as directed in President Trump's Executive Order 14247, Modernizing Payments To and From America's Bank Account (E.O. 14247). OFLC will be transitioning from collecting fees submitted in paper format (e.g., checks) to implementing a process to receive fee remittances electronically. The temporary suspension of H-2A certification fees will begin on September 2, 2025. During the temporary suspension period, OFLC will not issue invoices for certification fees for H-2A Applications for Temporary Certifications that are certified, and will not seek retroactive payment of fees for those certifications. Any employer that is issued an H-2A certification fee invoice prior to the effective date of the temporary suspension of collections must pay the invoice by the due date. OFLC will announce the end of the temporary suspension of H-2A certification fees via a Federal Register notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 145 (Thursday, July 31, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 145 (Thursday, July 31, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36071-36072]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-14510]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Temporary Suspension of H-2A Certification Fees
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the
Department of Labor (DOL or Department) is issuing this notice to
announce that it is temporarily suspending the collection of H-2A labor
certification fees. Implementing a temporary suspension period will
allow ETA's Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) to move toward
accepting electronic fees, as directed in President Trump's Executive
Order 14247, Modernizing Payments To and From America's Bank Account
(E.O. 14247). OFLC will be transitioning from collecting fees submitted
in paper format (e.g., checks) to implementing a process to receive fee
remittances electronically. The temporary suspension of H-2A
certification fees will begin on September 2, 2025. During the
temporary suspension period, OFLC will not issue invoices for
certification fees for H-2A Applications for Temporary Certifications
that are certified, and will not seek retroactive payment of fees for
those certifications. Any employer that is issued an H-2A certification
fee invoice prior to the effective date of the temporary suspension of
collections must pay the invoice by the due date. OFLC will announce
the end of the temporary suspension of H-2A certification fees via a
Federal Register notice.
DATES: The H-2A temporary labor certification fee suspension period is
effective as of September 2, 2025 and will remain in place until
further notice. The Department will resume collecting these fees once
it transitions to collecting fees electronically. The end of the
suspension period will be announced via a Federal Register notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Pasternak, Administrator, Office
of Foreign Labor Certification, Employment and Training Administration,
U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room N-5311,
Washington, DC 20210, telephone (202) 693-8200 (this is not a toll-free
number). For persons with a hearing or speech disability who need
assistance to use the telephone system, please dial 711 to access
telecommunications relay services.
(Authority: 8 U.S.C. 1188(a)(2); 20 CFR 655.163; E.O. 14247, 90 FR
14001.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The H-2A nonimmigrant visa program allows employers to hire foreign
workers in the United States on a temporary basis to perform
agricultural labor or services. See
[[Page 36072]]
Section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act
(INA). The Secretary of Labor (Secretary) has unique responsibilities
for the H-2A temporary agricultural labor program under the INA as
delegated to OFLC through ETA, for review of the Application for
Temporary Employment Certification for certification where employers
meet the requirements of 20 CFR part 655 subpart B, and, after
certification, for the collection of a certification fee associated
with H-2A temporary agricultural labor certifications. Specifically,
under Section 218(a)(2) of the INA, ``the Secretary of Labor may
require by regulation, as a condition of issuing the certification, the
payment of a fee to recover the reasonable costs of processing
applications for certification.'' The Department's regulations at 20
CFR part 655 subpart B required the certification fee collection in
1987.\1\
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\1\ See 52 FR 20507 (Jun 1, 1987); 75 FR 6884 (Feb 12, 2010); 87
FR 61660 (Oct 12, 2022).
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Pursuant to the Department's current H-2A regulations, where OFLC
grants H-2A temporary agricultural labor certification for an
Application for Temporary Employment Certification, the employer is
required under 20 CFR 655.163 to remit payment of the H-2A
certification fee within 30 calendar days. For each H-2A temporary
labor certification, the fee is $100.00 for each employer receiving a
temporary agricultural labor certification, plus $10.00 for each H-2A
worker certified under the Application for Temporary Employment
Certification, provided that the fee to an employer for each temporary
agricultural labor certification received will be no greater than
$1,000. See 20 CFR 655.163(a).
Also under 20 CFR 655.163, the certification determination includes
a bill for the required certification fees. Each employer of H-2A
workers under the Application for Temporary Employment Certification
(except joint employer agricultural associations, which may not be
assessed a fee in addition to the fees assessed to the employer-members
of the agricultural association) must pay in a timely manner a non-
refundable fee upon issuance of the certification granting the
Application for Temporary Employment Certification (in whole or in
part). Where OFLC certifies an H-2A Application for Temporary
Employment Certification, in whole or in part, OFLC issues an invoice
to the employer(s) for payment of the H-2A certification fee and
payment must be received within 30 calendar days of certification.
OFLC's innovative technology allows for the electronic filing and
processing of employer applications using the Foreign Labor Application
Gateway (FLAG) System (<a href="https://flag.dol.gov/">https://flag.dol.gov/</a>), as well as the issuance
of electronic decisions to employers and communications directly with
employers and their authorized attorneys and agents, as applicable,
throughout the application process. Currently, however, H-2A labor
certification fees are not collected electronically. Rather employers
must mail payments to OFLC by check or money order. OFLC must then
manually process payments and work with the Department to deposit
payments with the U.S. Treasury.
On March 25, 2025, President Trump issued E.O. 14247, Modernizing
Payments To and From America's Bank Account (90 FR 14001).\2\ The E.O.
14247 ``promotes operational efficiency by mandating the transition to
electronic payments for all Federal disbursements and receipts by
digitizing payments to the extent permissible under appliable law . .
.'' and requires the U.S. Department of the Treasury to ``cease issuing
paper checks'' by September 30, 2025. It further requires all executive
departments and agencies to ``comply by transitioning to electronic
funds transfer [EFT] methods, including direct deposit, prepaid card
accounts, and other digital payment options, and take all steps
necessary to enroll recipients in EFT payments . . .'' The directives
included in E.O. 14247 were given to executive agencies, to transition
to EFT methods and other digital payment options for payments made to
the Federal Government to facilitate electronic processing, as
permissible and as soon as practicable.
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\2\ See E.O.14247, Modernizing Payments To and From America's
Bank Account (2025) at <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/modernizing-payments-to-and-from-americas-bank-account/">https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/modernizing-payments-to-and-from-americas-bank-account/</a>.
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Accordingly, to advance President Trump's directives in E.O. 14247
and to build upon the Department's ongoing technological efficiency
initiatives, OFLC is temporarily suspending the collection of H-2A
certification fees under 20 CFR 655.163 to allow for coordination with
the U.S. Department of the Treasury for receipt of electronic payments,
perform technology updates to the FLAG System, and to further plan for
electronic remittance and acceptance of H-2A certification fees. This
transition from mailed checks and money orders to electronic receipt of
H-2A certification fees will result in a more efficient and less
burdensome process for both the government and American employers who
rely on the H-2A visa program. Further details of electronic payment
methods, remittance, and the date on which OFLC will resume acceptance
of H-2A certification fees will be provided in future Federal Register
notices.
Temporary Suspension of H-2A Certification Fees
As of September 2, 2025, the Department is temporarily suspending
the issuance of invoices for certification fees for H-2A certifications
until further notice is provided in the Federal Register. For
applications that are certified on or after September 2, 2025, and
during this temporary suspension period, OFLC will not require or
retroactively seek fee payments for those certified H-2A Applications
for Temporary Employment Certification. The Department is delaying
implementation of the temporary suspension period for 30 days to make
necessary technology changes and to allow collection of outstanding
invoices prior to implementation of the suspension of issuing invoices.
Any employer that is issued an H-2A certification fee invoice prior to
the suspension of collections must pay the invoice by the deadline in
the invoice. Once the Department is ready to implement the electronic
payment methods, it will inform the public by publishing a notice in
the Federal Register. Employers will resume the submission of H-2A
certification fees in accordance with the dates and details that will
be specified in that announcement.
Susan Frazier,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, Labor.
[FR Doc. 2025-14510 Filed 7-30-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-FP-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on July 31, 2025.
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