Foreign Labor Overview

The Foreign Labor Certification Program educates and assists Montana employers seeking foreign workers. When qualified United States-based workers are unavailable, the Workforce Services Division assists an employer through the foreign labor process. Any United States employer seeking a foreign worker(s) is eligible to apply.

  • The H-2A labor certification program establishes a means for agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring non-immigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature. H-2A and access forms

    The following guides may help an employer understand the H-2A process and expectations:

    H-2A Employer Handbook

    Farmworker Housing Resource Guide

  • The H-2B labor certification program establishes a means for U.S. non-agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers, to bring temporary non-immigrant foreign workers into the U.S. H-2B eligibility requires that the job and the U.S. employer's need for the foreign worker be of a temporary nature. The need must be for one year or less and can be either a one-time occurrence, seasonal, peak-load or intermittent.

    Employers are to create an account in USNLx at: https://usnlx.com/ and submit their H-2B Job order request to that job board. All changes and modifications subsequent to the initial job order placement will be made with NLX directly. A how-to guide is available to assist with this process.  

     Additional information is available here:H-2B and access forms

    Questions about this process may be directed to the Foreign Labor Certification Program Manager.

    The Workforce Services Division is the state agency that administers the FLC Program in Montana. Funding, oversight, and processing is provided by the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration.

    • Information on worker rights developed by the DOL Wage and Hour Division is available at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd
    • Information about Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it illegal to discriminate against someone or harass someone on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin or sex, and makes employers accountable for providing a work environment that is free from harassment and other kinds of discrimination developed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is available at https://www.eeoc.gov
    • Information about the anti-discrimination provision under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) 8 U.S.C. § 1324b, which prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices during the employment eligibility verification process (generally, Form I-9 and E-Verify); and retaliation or intimidation developed by the Department of Justice’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section is available at https://www.justice.gov/crt/immigrant-and-employee-rights-section
    • Information about how to contact the National Human Trafficking Center Hotline when anyone believes or suspects someone may be the victim of human trafficking, which occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud or coercion to control another person for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts or soliciting labor or services against his/her will, is available at https://humantraffickinghotline.org

     

  • Sandy Sands, Program Manager
    Workforce Services Division
    PO Box 1728
    Helena, MT 59624-1728
    Phone: (406) 444-2981
    Email: Wsands@mt.gov
    Email for H-2A: DDLIWSDH-2A@mt.gov
    Email for H-2B: DDLIWSDH-2B@mt.gov