The utilization of foreign labor is based on the fact that the US Labor market does not have sufficient labor available to perform certain kinds of jobs
The US Bureau Of Citizen and Immigration Services (formerly known as the INS) makes provision for a special class of temporary non-immigrant worker, to fill these jobs in diverse industry and trade sectors. They approve the utilization of these workers based on a specially applied and granted permit, called an H2A or an H2B permit.
The positions applied for needs to be clearly defined and described as a labor need, which arises due to a seasonal phenomenon (like the weather in the winter) or due to a distinctive peak period workload (e.g. summer travel and tourism cycles).
Obtain a seasonal labor certification from the Department of Labor (DOL) varies between 6 to 8 weeks for the H2-A permit.
This certification basically means that the DOL will grant you as employer permission to employ foreign workers once they are convinced that you do have seasonal/high peak worker positions available for which there are not enough suitable local labor.
This phase of the application has further detailed steps with which we will assist you.
It is important to note that an employer may only file one DOL application per year and it is therefore essential that the application is given enough thought, ensuring that it will provide for enough workers.
We also encourage our clients to rather apply for a few extra permits to make provision for any unforeseen need to replace a worker(s) or add to the workforce. Since the added cost is only $10 per added person it is a cheap solution in time of need.
Obtain permit approval from the BCIS (formerly INS):
Once the labor certification has been obtained, an application can be submitted to the BCIS for the issuing of the H2-A permit.
This part of the process can take from 30 days up to 120 days.
The BCIS approval will be send to a US Consulate in South Africa, where the consulate will issue the worker(s) H2-A visa.
The visa is valid for as long as the labor certification is granted (a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 10 months), depending on the seasonal need.
