H-2A Application for
Temporary Employment Certification
New
collection (Request for a new OMB Control Number)
No
Regular
10/12/2022
Requested
Previously Approved
36 Months From Approved
467,843
0
102,865
0
0
0
The Secretary of Labor (Secretary) has
delegated the responsibility of issuing temporary labor
certifications, through the Assistant Secretary, Employment and
Training Administration (ETA), to ETA’s OFLC. See Secretary’s Order
06-2010. The Secretary has also delegated responsibility for
enforcement of the worker protections to the Administrator of the
Wage and Hour Division (WHD). See Secretary’s Order 01-2014. This
information collection, OMB Control No. 1205-0466, includes the
collection of information related to an employer’s request for
nonimmigrant workers, as well as the material terms, wages, and
conditions of employment that facilitate the recruitment of U.S.
workers and issuance of temporary labor certifications in the H-2A
program. ETA uses this information collection to meet its statutory
and regulatory responsibilities for administering the H-2A program.
An employer seeking to employ H-2A workers must file a completed
Form ETA-9142A (including all supporting documentation) and a copy
of the job order (also known as the agricultural clearance order,
Form ETA-790) must be submitted for circulation in ARS by the SWA
serving the area of intended employment and the SWAs in other
states, as appropriate to recruit for the job opportunity. These
forms and all supporting documentation constitute the H-2A
application.
US Code:
8 USC 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a) Name of Law: Immigration and
Nationality Act (INA)
US Code:
8 USC 1184(c)(1) Name of Law: Immigration and Nationality Act
(INA)
US Code: 8 USC
1188 Name of Law: Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)
The total number of responses,
burden hours, and monetized costs associated with all collections
under this ICR differ from previous estimates. The answer provided
to A.12 provides more information regarding this burden increase.
The chart below shows the changes in burden requested under this
ICR, by showing the burden last approved by OMB in connection with
OMB 1205-0466, and the new burden estimates resulting from the
changes the final rule prompts to OMB 1205-0466, for which approval
is sought through this IC for OMB 1205-0537. There has been an
increase of total burden hours. The one main reason why the
estimated numbers of annual responses, burden hours, and monetized
cost of respondent time associated with this ICR have increased
from the previously approved burden is the increase on the number
of applications filed with OFLC to request certifications.
Integrating the burden and costs related to Form ETA-232, which is
currently authorized under ICR 1205-0017, will eventually increase
the total burden under ICR 1205-0466. In connection with the
request for approval to integrate ICR 1205-0017, the Department
requests approval to revise the collection (i.e., the new Form
ETA-232) for use in the H-2A program under OMB 1205-0466.
Modernizing wage data collection methods and permitting the SWA to
leverage other state agency surveys should reduce the SWA’s burden
per response to this information collection by 70 percent, from 11
hours per response to 3.30 hours per response. This revision would
reduce the SWA’s burden in responding to the Form ETA-232 by 7.70
hours but would increase the burden of this ICR by 3.30 hours per
SWA response. In addition, estimated burden hours for employers had
changed from the estimate provided for the NPRM, reflecting the
Department’s decision not to adopt two optional information
collections proposed in the NPRM. First, the Department did not
adopt the proposal to allow an employer the option of staggering
the entry of some of its H-2A workers under a single certification.
Second, the Department did not adopt the proposal to allow an
employer to request post-certification changes to specific
worksites in the area of intended employment where H-2A workers are
authorized to work. These decisions eliminated the related
notification and document retention burden that had been included
in the estimated burden hours of the NPRM. Despite the estimated
increase in burden hours overall, due in part to the increased
volume of responses and the transfer of information collection
tools currently covered under ICR OMB 1205-0017 into this
collection (OMB 1205-0466), the proposed forms are intended to
reduce the overall burden and costs associated with each individual
information collection response. Although the Department proposes a
new Form ETA-9142A, Appendix B, H-2A Labor Contractor Surety Bond,
the collection tool simplifies and facilitates an existing response
requirement. The record retention requirement for job opportunities
in herding or the range production of livestock currently housed in
1205-0519 has always been the recordkeeping requirements associated
with the information collection requirements in 1205-0466. As a
result, ETA is including in this ICR Revision request that the
burden currently in OMB 1205-0519 be merged into OMB 1205-0466.
Adding this burden to 1205-0466 would add 5 minutes for 842 of the
14,586 respondents covered in 1205-0466 for a total burden increase
of 70 hours. However, the respondents who are subject to this
additional burden are not subject to other recordkeeping burdens
applicable to respondents with job opportunities other than herding
or production of livestock on the range, such as recording start
and end time of the workday. As a result, merging the burden of OMB
1205-0519 into OMB 1205-0466 does not increase the overall record
retention burden of OMB 1205-0466.
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 Information Collection from Employers
1205-0537 Supporting Statement Appendix 101222.docx
Collection of U.S. Worker Wage Information from SWAs