The H-2A program allows farmers who anticipate shortages of seasonal workers to request certification from DOL to employ foreign workers up to 10 months; the workers have H-2A visas. A sixth of US farmers filed for certification directly in FY20, while almost half used an agent and a fifth each used associations and lawyers. There was variance by state. California had a higher share of self-filers, 24 percent, and lawyers, 58 percent, while Florida had 17 percent self-filers and 42 percent agent filers.

85% of H-2A job certification requests in FY20 were made by agents, associations, or lawyers