American Farm Bureau pleased to see processing of H-2A visas

by | Apr 1, 2020 | 5 Ag Stories, News

With the global COVID-19 pandemic weighing on countries throughout the world, we saw an expected closing of borders. Countries are doing all they can to curtail the spread of the disease from foreign sources. The concern for agriculture was with the shutdown of our consulate offices abroad, we would lose access to the seasonal workers which agriculture depends on.

The fears of a lack of guest workers were alleviated last week. The U.S. State Department said it would process H-2A visa applications for guest workers in agriculture. This is being accomplished by expanding the interview waiver rules. Allison Crittenden is the Congressional Relations Director for the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). She says this will expand the number of available workers.

With agriculture being deemed an ?Essential service? it was important to get these changes in support of the nation?s food supply chain.

There are concerns with the pandemic and workers from different countries being in closer proximity to one another. Crittenden says farmers are doing everything they can to curb the spread of COVID-19 and keep their workforce safe.