About Migration Dialogue
Migration Dialogue provides timely, factual and nonpartisan information and analysis of international migration issues through five major activities: the newsletters Migration News and Rural Migration News, Changing Face and other Research & Seminars, and the Sloan West Coast Program on Science and Engineering Workers.
Contact us at migrant@primal.ucdavis.edu.
Rural Migration Blog: H-2A Program Expands in 2023
The H-2A program expanded in FY23. DOL certified 13,500 applications to fill 212,000 jobs with H-2A workers in the first two quarters of FY23, up from 12,000 applications to fill 193,000 jobs with H-2A workers in the first half of FY22, up 10 percent. H-2A job certifications may surpass peak mid-1950s Bracero admissions of 455,000 before 2025.
DOL certified 372,000 jobs to be filled with H-2A workers in FY22, including 14 percent in the first quarter, 39 percent in quarter two, 27 percent in quarter three, and 21 percent in quarter four. Over half of H-2A certifications are in five states. During the first half of FY23, 14 percent of H-2A certifications were in Florida, 12 percent were in California, nine percent each were in Georgia and Washington, and seven percent were in North Carolina.
DOL certified 10% more H-2A jobs in the first half of FY23 than in FY22
| FY23 | Q1 (Oct-Dec) | Q2 (Jan-Mar) | Q3 (Apr-Jun) | Q4 (Jul-Sept) | % Change FY 2023 | 14,408 | 5,863 | 8,545 | — | — | 11.4% |
|---|
| Determination | FY23 | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Processed | 13,767 | 3,257 | 10,510 | — | — |
| - Certified | 13,494 | 3,164 | 10,330 | — | — |
| - Denied | 87 | 28 | 59 | — | — |
| - Withdrawn | 186 | 65 | 121 | — | — |
| Positions Requested | 212,219 | 55,542 | 156,677 | — | — |
| Positions Certified | 206,096 | 54,747 | 151,349 | — | — |
| Processed Timely | 98.8% | 98.8% | 96.9% | — | — |
Most Read
-
Rural Migration News
Rural Migration News summarizes the most important migration-related issues affecting agricultural and rural America, and is produced with the support of the Colcom, Giannini, and Walmart foundations.
-
Rural Migration News Blogs
Rural Migration News blogs examine a particular farm labor, migration, or trade issue, and are produced with the support of the Colcom, Giannini, and Walmart foundations.
-
Farm Labor and Mexican Produce Exports
The US imports over half of its fresh fruit and a third of its fresh vegetables, mostly from Mexico. This project, led by the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute and supported by the Walmart foundations, strengthens protections for Mexican workers employed throughout North America agriculture and works with stakeholders to implement evidence-based policies that improve worker protections.
-
Migration News
Migration News was a monthly and later quarterly summary of the most important migration issues in the US, Europe, and Asia that was produced between 1994 and 2014 with the support of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
-
Sloan West Coast Program On S&E Workers
The Sloan Program on Science and Engineering Workers supported researchers interested in how affected US workers employed in IT-related occupations between 2007 and 2014 with the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
-
Changing Face & UFW Contracts
The Changing Face project assessed the effects of immigrant farm workers on agriculture and agricultural communities in California and other states between 1994 and 2016 with the support of the Farm and Rosenberg Foundations.
-
Research & Seminars
Migration Dialogue organized seminars for opinion leaders to discuss comparative migration issues between 1993 and 2004 with the support of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.


