{"id":2607,"date":"2026-06-18T21:37:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T21:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maslabor.com\/?p=2607"},"modified":"2026-06-19T01:38:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T01:38:27","slug":"dairy-h-2a-uscis-memo-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maslabor.com\/es\/2026\/06\/18\/dairy-h-2a-uscis-memo-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Dairy &#038; H-2A: What the New USCIS Memo Really Means for American Farm Businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>A landmark clarification. A long time coming. And a reminder that the path forward has always required more than just reading the headlines.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On June 17, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0200, formally titled <em>Guidance on Temporary or Seasonal Need for H-2A Petitions for Dairying<\/em>. With good reason, the memo arrived with much fanfare from the industry, with many celebrating the administration&#8217;s efforts to expand H-2A program eligibility to a sector that has historically been left in the cold.<\/p>\n<p>But as always, the devil is in the details; beyond the headlines is a significant amount of nuance that dairy employers &#8211; and their agents or attorneys &#8211; will have to navigate. In that regard, this week&#8217;s announcement is less of a groundbreaking policy shift and more of an affirmation of existing rules.<\/p>\n<p>It has always been a misnomer to say that the dairy industry is not eligible for the H-2A program. At m&#225;sLabor, we often hear this talking point presented as a categorical truth. But the reality is more complicated &#8211; the H-2A program requires employers to demonstrate a temporary or seasonal need, and under the current regulatory framework, very few dairies can satisfy the standard.<\/p>\n<p>But &#8220;very few&#8221; is not &#8220;zero.&#8221; Indeed, over the years m&#225;sLabor has worked with several dairy operations to successfully secure labor certifications. The strategy we used? The same one outlined in the new USCIS policy memo.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align:center;margin:36px 0;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/maslabor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/maslabor-dairy-h2a-uscis-memo.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"display:inline-block;background-color:#EB0029;color:#ffffff;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;padding:16px 36px;border-radius:4px;font-size:18px;letter-spacing:0.3px;\">Read the Full Analysis (PDF)<\/a>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A landmark clarification. A long time coming. And a reminder that the path forward has always required more than just [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-informational-piece"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dairy &amp; 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