Department of Homeland Security December 18, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Coast Guard, with the National Marine Sanctuary Program West Coast Region as a cooperating agency, announces the availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to implement enhanced environmental protection measures to the Coast Guard's operations in the areas of responsibility for Coast Guard Districts 11 (California) and 13 (Oregon and Washington) for public review and comment. The DEIS analyzes the environmental impacts of routine Coast Guard vessel and air operations when engaged in the following missions and activities: Law enforcement, national security, search and rescue, aids to navigation, and oil pollution and vessel grounding response. This analysis does not include live fire exercises. Comments and suggestions are invited from all interested parties to ensure that the full range and significance of issues related to this proposed action are identified. The Coast Guard has established a Web site at the address below to provide the public with additional information. https://pacareaeis.uscg.e2m-inc.com.

This final rule amends Department of Homeland Security regulations regarding temporary and seasonal agricultural workers, and their U.S. employers, within the H-2A nonimmigrant classification. The final rule removes certain limitations on H-2A employers and adopts streamlining measures in order to encourage and facilitate the lawful employment of foreign temporary and seasonal agricultural workers. The final rule also addresses concerns regarding the integrity of the H-2A program and sets forth several conditions to prevent fraud and to protect laborers' rights. The purpose of the final rule is to provide agricultural employers with an orderly and timely flow of legal workers, thereby decreasing their reliance on unauthorized workers, while protecting the rights of laborers. The rule revises the current limitations on agricultural workers' length of stay including lengthening the amount of time an agricultural worker may remain in the United States after his or her employment has ended and shortening the time period that an agricultural worker whose H-2A nonimmigrant status has expired must wait before he or she is eligible to obtain H-2A nonimmigrant status again. This rule also provides for temporary employment authorization to agricultural workers seeking an extension of their H-2A nonimmigrant status through a different U.S. employer, provided that the employer is a registered user in good standing with the E-Verify employment eligibility verification program. In addition, DHS modifies the current notification and payment requirements for employers when an alien fails to show up at the start of the employment period, an H-2A employee's employment is terminated, or an H-2A employee absconds from the worksite. To better ensure the integrity of the H-2A program, this rule also requires certain employer attestations and precludes the imposition of fees by employers or recruiters on prospective beneficiaries. Under this final rule, DHS also will revoke an H-2A petition if the Department of Labor revokes the petitioner's underlying labor certification. Also, this rule provides that DHS will publish in a notice in the Federal Register a list of countries that the Secretary of Homeland Security has designated, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, as eligible for its nationals to participate in the H-2A program. These changes are necessary to encourage and facilitate the lawful employment of foreign temporary and seasonal agricultural workers. Finally, this rule establishes criteria for a pilot program under which aliens admitted on certain temporary worker visas at a port of entry participating in the program must also depart through a port of entry participating in the program and present designated biographical information upon departure. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will publish a Notice in the Federal Register designating which temporary workers must participate in the program, which ports of entry are participating in the program, and the types of information that CBP will collect from the departing workers.

This Notice announces the manner in which petitioners must notify U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services regarding their employment of agricultural workers in H-2A nonimmigrant status or job placement fee information. These procedures are necessary to enable petitioners to comply with the notification requirements established by the Department of Homeland Security's regulations governing the H-2A nonimmigrant classification.