Proposal would create 3-year farmworker visa

Mary Hopkin
Tri-City Herald
Posted July 25, 2008

PASCO — As national immigration reform stalls in the other Washington, state agricultural advocates are rolling out a guest worker pilot program they hope state legislators will support in January.


"It shouldn't be easier to bring in someone to mow lawns in Seattle than to pick apples in Wenatchee," said Dan Fazio, director of employer services for the Washington Farm Bureau. He addressed more than 100 members of the National Onion Association who gathered Thursday at the Pasco Red Lion for an annual convention.



Access to an adequate labor supply is the biggest issue facing farmers, Fazio said. But it's a heated issue.



The H2A guest worker program now in place is expensive for farmers, requiring them to provide transportation for the workers, as well as visa fees and housing. The government sets the minimum wage, now $9.94, topping the state minimum wage. And guest workers don't have any taxes taken from that wage, although domestic workers picking alongside them would.



The program is supposed to provide a stable work force for the agriculture industry by requiring the workers to work at one farm. But many leave anyway, looking for higher wages, and the farmer is out his investment, Fazio said.


Bob Brody, of Wenatchee, also noted that under the current rules if he had a shortage of workers and needed to use the H2A program, he'd have to file with the state employment agency and then wait 90 days to see if any domestic workers want the jobs.



"I don't have 90 days," he said. "It's important to pick the fruit at the right time."



The H2A program is strictly for agriculture workers. There are similar programs for nonagriculture workers (H2B) and for high-tech workers (H1B), but there are significant differences, Fazio said.



The H2B program was developed for nonagriculture jobs like landscapers and restaurant and hotel/motel workers. Those employers aren't required to pay to bring the workers into the country or provide housing. There also are no wage requirements and those workers must pay taxes.



The same is true for the high-tech workers brought in under the H1B program, Fazio said.



Employers using all three programs must prove out-of-country employees are needed, he said, and document that they tried to fill the jobs. "But they don't even look at the high-tech applications, they just file them," he said, while officials carefully scrutinize every H2A application.



Fazio said current immigration policy is not working and the Washington Farm Bureau has drafted an eight-point "essential worker" pilot program that it hopes to draft into a bill for state legislators to consider in 2009.



If they support it, Congress would also have to sign off on a bill.



Under the proposal, workers from other countries could buy a three-year nonimmigrant visa to come to the U.S. to work in agriculture and agriculture processing.



Agriculture employers would have to list jobs with the state's work force agency, which must attempt first to find domestic workers. Visa holders could be referred after a job had been posted for domestic workers for three business days.



Guest workers would have to return to their native country for at least 30 days each year. They also would not be eligible for unemployment benefits, and if they were in the country for 45 days without working their visa would be terminated.



The pilot program would sunset after six years, Fazio said, adding the Washington Farm Bureau is hoping to work with the Oregon and California Farm Bureaus to draft similar bills.



Fazio said presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain both stressed the need for a legal agricultural work force during the American Farm Bureau Federation's Council of Presidents meeting last week.



"We need to hold them accountable," he said. "Right now, every industry has undocumented workers — hospitality, agriculture, construction. It's time to stop pointing fingers and solve the problem."
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