What Is an H-2 Visa? H-2A, H-2B, Eligibility, and Employer Duties

An H-2 visa is a temporary U.S. work visa that lets employers hire foreign nationals for short-term jobs when not enough American workers are available. It comes in two flavors: the H-2A visa for seasonal agricultural work, and the H-2B visa for seasonal non-agricultural work. Each has its own rules, caps, wage standards, and employer obligations, and because the employer files the petition and carries most of the legal duties, the worker’s role is largely to qualify, wait, and show up.¹

H-2A: Temporary Agricultural Workers

The H-2A category covers seasonal or temporary agricultural jobs such as harvesting crops, planting, and tending livestock.¹ USCIS grants status for the period on the temporary labor certification, with extensions in increments of up to one year and a total maximum stay of three years.²

There is no annual numerical cap on H-2A visas. That gives farms flexibility when demand spikes with the weather or the growing season.

H-2B: Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers

The H-2B category covers temporary non-agricultural jobs in fields like landscaping, hospitality, seafood processing, and construction. Congress set a statutory cap of 66,000 H-2B visas per fiscal year, split evenly between workers starting October 1–March 31 and workers starting April 1–September 30.³ As with H-2A, the maximum stay is three years and extensions come in one-year increments.⁴

The cap fills fast. For fiscal year 2026, DHS authorized an additional 64,716 H-2B visas beyond the statutory cap through a temporary final rule.⁵ These supplemental visas are not automatic; Congress or DHS has to authorize them separately each year, and future years may not include them.

H-2A vs. H-2B at a Glance

The two programs share a structure but diverge on the things that matter most to workers and employers:

Type of work: H-2A is agricultural only; H-2B is everything else that qualifies as temporary or seasonal.
Annual cap: H-2A has none; H-2B is capped at 66,000, sometimes supplemented.
Wages: H-2A employers must pay the highest of the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), prevailing wage, collective bargaining rate, or minimum wage. H-2B employers pay the higher of the prevailing wage or the applicable minimum wage.
Housing: H-2A employers must provide free housing to workers who cannot reasonably return home each day. H-2B employers do not have to provide housing.

Who Can Apply

Only nationals of designated countries can normally participate. DHS publishes the list annually in consultation with the State Department. For the period effective November 7, 2024 through November 8, 2025, 88 countries were designated for H-2A and 89 for H-2B, with the H-2B list adding Mongolia and the Philippines.⁶ Major sending countries include Mexico, Jamaica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

A worker whose country is not on the current list is generally ineligible, unless the employer petitions USCIS and shows that admitting the worker is in the U.S. interest. Because the list changes, check the most recent Federal Register notice before starting.

Proving the Job Is Truly Temporary

Before any foreign worker gets in, the employer has to prove the job itself is temporary. For H-2B, federal regulations recognize four qualifying kinds of need:

One-time occurrence: the employer has not needed the role before and will not again, or a short-duration event created an unusual need.
Seasonal need: work tied to a recurring season, with identifiable months each year when it is not needed.
Peak-load need: a permanent workforce that requires short-term reinforcements during a spike.
Intermittent need: no permanent full-time staff for the role, with occasional short-term help required.

Picking the wrong category is a common reason for denials.⁷ H-2A employers face a simpler standard because farm work is inherently seasonal, but they still must show the position is temporary or seasonal.

What the Employer Has to Provide

H-2 programs come with obligations that go well beyond filing fees, and skipping them is what lands employers in trouble.

Wages

Every H-2 employer must pay at least the prevailing wage for the occupation and area, or the applicable federal, state, or local minimum wage, whichever is highest.⁸ H-2A employers face an additional benchmark, the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, set by the Department of Labor to keep foreign labor from pulling down farmworker wages. In 2026, non-range AEWRs range from about $14.83 per hour in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi to $20.08 in Hawaii.⁹ H-2A employers pay the highest of the AEWR, the prevailing wage, any agreed collective bargaining rate, or the applicable minimum wage.

Housing and Meals

H-2A employers must provide housing at no cost to workers who cannot reasonably return home each day, and the housing must meet federal OSHA safety standards.¹⁰ If the employer provides meals instead of kitchen facilities, the maximum daily charge is $16.28 per worker.¹¹ Otherwise, the employer must provide free cooking and kitchen facilities. H-2B employers do not have to provide housing, but any housing arrangements must be disclosed in the job order.

Transportation

For H-2B workers, once a worker completes 50 percent of the job order period, the employer must reimburse inbound transportation and daily travel costs from the place of recruitment to the job site, and must provide or pay for return transportation at the end of the contract.¹² H-2A follows a similar structure. Shifting these costs onto workers through payroll deductions can produce back-pay liability and debarment.

Family Members

The H-2 worker’s spouse and unmarried children under 21 can apply for H-4 status to accompany or join the worker.² H-4 dependents cannot work in the United States, so families need to plan around a single income.

The Three-Year Cap and the 60-Day Reset

Both H-2A and H-2B workers face a hard limit of three years of cumulative time in H-2 status. Time in either H-2A or H-2B counts, and so does time in other H or L classifications. After hitting three years, the worker must leave the United States and stay out for an uninterrupted period of at least 60 days before receiving H-2 status again.⁴

A 60-day absence at any point during the three-year window resets the clock and gives the worker a fresh three years. Brief trips to the U.S. for business or pleasure during that period are permitted, but they do not count toward completing the required time abroad. An employer filing a new petition after the break has to document the absence with departure and arrival records, foreign employment records, or tax returns.

Compliance and Penalties

USCIS does not approve a petition and walk away. H-2 employers are subject to the Targeted Site Visit and Verification Program, under which officers make unannounced visits to worksites, interview employers and workers, and review payroll records to confirm workers are doing the jobs described at the promised wages and conditions.¹³

The Department of Labor can fine employers and debar them from the H-2 program for up to three years for violations like underpaying workers, failing to reimburse transportation, pushing visa fees onto workers, or keeping inaccurate payroll. In a 2025 enforcement action, DOL fined two farm labor contractors $166,000 and debarred them for three years for paying workers nearly $4 per hour below the required rate and illegally charging them for visa and border fees.¹⁴

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1101 – Definitions
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1184 – Admission of Nonimmigrants
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers
5
Federal Register. Exercise of Time-Limited Authority To Increase the Fiscal Year 2026 Numerical Limitation for the H-2B Temporary Nonagricultural Worker Program
6
Federal Register. Identification of Foreign Countries Whose Nationals Are Eligible To Participate in the H-2A and H-2B Nonimmigrant Worker Programs
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Guidance on Temporary Need in H-2B Petitions
8
eCFR. 20 CFR Part 655 Subpart A – Labor Certification Process for Temporary Non-Agricultural Employment in the United States (H-2B Workers)
9
U.S. Department of Labor. H-2A Adverse Effect Wage Rates
10
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 26 – Section H-2A of the Immigration and Nationality Act
11
U.S. Department of Labor. Allowable Meal Charges and Reimbursements for Daily Subsistence
12
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 78F – Inbound and Outbound Transportation Expenses, and Visa and Other Related Fees Under the H-2B Program
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Administrative Site Visit and Verification Program
14
U.S. Department of Labor. US Department of Labor Fines Father, Daughter Farm Contractors $166K for Violating H-2A Program Rules in North Carolina