ETA-9142A H-2A Application for Temporary Employment Certification
The temporary agricultural labour certification. An employer files it with a job order to certify that not enough U.S. workers are available and that hiring foreign workers will not harm domestic wages and conditions. Certification is what allows the H-2A petition on Form I-129.
- Fee
- $0 to the Department of Labor. USCIS charges $1,090 paper / $1,040 online for a named-worker H-2A I-129 petition, or $530 / $480 for unnamed workers, plus the Asylum Program Fee.
- Fee waiver
- Not available
- Who files
- Agricultural employers, associations, and their agents.
- Where to file
- Online through the FLAG system, with the ETA-790/790A job order and addenda.
- Processing time
- OFLC publishes weekly H-2A issuance statistics rather than a median; the regulatory target is a determination no later than 30 calendar days before the start date
Usually filed with
Part of these processes
What changed in 2025 and 2026
- The Farmworker Protection Rule forms approved in September 2024 are not to be used; the Department reverted to the earlier forms in December 2024 pending litigation, and that is still the position.
Official page. https://flag.dol.gov/programs/H-2A. Download the form there, never from a third-party site; check the edition date and fee before filing.