H.R. 9535

Securing Agriculture's Workforce Act of 2026

Sponsor: Glenn Thompson

61 cosponsors
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Official summary

Written by the Congressional Research Service.

Securing Agriculture's Workforce Act of 2026

This bill expands the H-2A agricultural visa program; creates online platforms for H-2A employers, workers, and agencies; and codifies certain wage calculations.

Under current law, workers on H-2A visas are only allowed to perform agricultural work of a seasonal or temporary nature. Under the bill, the seasonal work requirement is removed, thus allowing H-2A workers to qualify for agricultural work that occurs year-round. The bill also expands the type of agricultural work that qualifies, including reforestation, aquaculture, and livestock work. The Department of Agriculture must issue rules to define agricultural labor or services for purposes of the H-2A program.

The bill also establishes an H-2A visa pathway for current unauthorized agricultural workers who otherwise meet requirements.

The Department of Labor must maintain a national, publicly accessible online job registry and database of all job offers submitted by employers seeking a labor certification required to employ H-2A workers. The Department of Homeland Security must establish an online platform for employers to submit information and documentation for review by federal agencies in the course of admitting H-2A workers.

The H-2A program requires employers to provide workers with wage rates at or above those set in regulations and such wages must not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers similarly employed in the United States. The bill codifies the current calculation method for the adverse effect wage rate as set in regulation. 

Text of the bill

Expand all
Sec. 3. Definitions

Section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)) is amended—

(1) in paragraph (15)(H)(ii)(a) by striking , as defined by the Secretary of Labor in regulations and including agricultural labor defined in section 3121(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, agriculture as defined in section 3(f) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203(f)), and the pressing of apples for cider on a farm, of a temporary or seasonal nature, and inserting of a temporary nature; and

(2) by adding at the end the following:

Text this section adds to the law

(53) The term ‘agricultural labor or services’ has the meaning given such term by the Secretary of Agriculture in regulations and includes—

(A) agricultural labor (as such term is defined in section 3121(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, notwithstanding the limitations set forth in paragraphs (4)(A) or (4)(B) of such section);

(B) agriculture (as such term is defined in section 3(f) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203(f)));

(C) the handling, planting, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, or grading of any agricultural or horticultural commodity in its unmanufactured state, without regard to the ownership or location of such facilities or activities;

(D) the transportation and preparation for transportation of any agricultural or horticultural commodity, in its unmanufactured state from the farm to the place of storage, first processing or first marketing;

(E) pine straw gathering and reforestation activities;

(F) aquaculture activities, including the primary processing of seafood;

(G) activities related to the management and training of equines;

(H) the pressing of apples for cider on a farm, or logging employment;

(I) the installation of horticulture commodities; and

(J) the harvest and processing of meat and poultry, which shall only include the slaughter of animals and the breakdown of carcasses.

(54) The term temporary means, for the purposes of paragraph (15)(H)(ii)(a), work performed pursuant to a contract with a term of less than 350 days, without regard to the approved employer’s underlying need or nature of the job.