The H-2A program enables employers to
bring nonimmigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform
agricultural work of a temporary or seasonal nature as defined in 8
U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a). On April 8, 2012, OMB approved
changes to this Information Collection Request (ICR) in conjunction
with recent rulemaking resulting in a final rule published on
February 21, 2012 (the 2012 H-2B Final Rule). 77 FR 10038. All
comments, documents, and forms related to the ICR approved in
conjunction with the 2012 H-2B Final Rule can be found on
http://omb.report. However, a lawsuit was brought in Federal court
in the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division, against
the Department and an order was issued on April 26, 2012 by the
court enjoining the Department from implementing the 2012 H-2B
Final Rule. (Bayou Lawn & Landscape Services, et al. v. Hilda
L. Solis, et al., 12-cv-00183-RV-CJK.) The Department received
emergency approval to revert back to the old forms from OMB on
April 27, 2012, and the ICR now expires on October 31, 2012. The
Department sought notice and comment on the further extension of
the appropriate forms. The revised 1205-0466 from this submission
will contain forms and most regulatory information collection
requirements applicable to the H-2A program. The ETA Form 9142 and
Appendix A.2 (now to be referred to only as Appendix A) will be
known as the ETA Form 9142A, H-2A Application for Temporary
Employment Certification and Appendix A. A new will contain forms
and most regulatory information collection requirements applicable
to the H-2B program. The ETA Form 9142 and Appendix B.1 (now to be
referred to only as Appendix B) will be known as the ETA Form
9142B, H-2B Application for Temporary Employment Certification and
Appendix B. The ETA Form 9141, Application for Prevailing Wage
Determination, which is applicable to the H-2B, H-1B, H-1B1, E-3,
and PERM programs, will go into its own ICR.
This ICR requests a change of
956,891 responses (from 1,104,747 to 147,856) and 424,818 burden
hours (from 468,902 to 44,084). The burden costs are slightly lower
because the number of H-2A workers has decreased. The ICR requests
a change of $75,900 (from $1,605,270 to $1,529,370). The changes
reflected in this ICR are attributed to the separation of this ICR
into three distinct ICRs, specifically 1205-0466 (for H-2A ICs);
1205-NEW1 (for H-2B ICs); and 1205-NEW2 (for prevailing wage
determination ICs). The Department has updated the burden entries
in ROCIS for this ICR to contain only the burdens for the H-2A
information collections contained in this Supporting
Statement.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Form ETA-9142A H-2A Program
1205-0466 supporting statement 3 5 2013.doc
Note to Reviewer.docx
H-2B Rulemaking