US temporary foreign workers program to include dairy farms

United States, 11th October: US temporary visa program will soon be extended to include dairy farms, the latest proposal by two American senators has maintained.

Currently, the US temporary visa program allows vegetable and fruit farms to employ foreign workers for a temporary period.

The H-2A Improvement Act was introduced by American Senators D-Vt. Patrick Leahy and D-N.Y. Kirsten Gillibrand on 7th October 2010.

The new legislation will enable foreign workers having some specific category of US visa to live and work in the US dairy for a maximum period of up to 3 years. Following the completion of working in the US for a period of three years, the foreign workers will be able to apply for permanent residents in the US.

As per Dale Stein, a member for Northeast Dairy Producers, such a provision will be of great help to the US dairy farmers since several US farmers including those in the northeast find it extremely difficult to employ Americans to work in the US dairies.

Dairy farms in New York have been turning to farm workers from Guatemala and Mexico for various farm works in the US. In the wake of no reliable local workers available in the US for milking cows, several US dairies

Many local dairy farmers including Stein, who also happens to be a former president of Genesee Country Farm Bureau, favor the AgJOBS bill that would help in increasing the number of farm workers available for agriculture jobs in the US.

However, as of now, the new legislation stands stalled in Congress.

 Speaking about the delay in the passing of AgJOBS bill, Stein said that Congress has not stepped forward in acting on this bill and several other US immigration proposals although Farm Bureau has been urging for the same since the past ten years.

Stein asserted on an immediate need for something like AgJOBS while expressing uncertainty about the passing of such legislation by the US.

 The US H-2 visas have been used by vegetable and fruit farmers in the US for hiring foreign temporary workers for a limited period of time but since the dairies were not defined as seasonal, hence, these did not fall under US H-2A program.