Edition 057Tuesday, 10 November 2026
Archive· RSS·
The $500 Ladder

Primary sources. Published arithmetic. No courses.

$500 idea · Pattern break · Edition 057

The bond that protects farm workers is indexed to the wage America just cut.

On 3 August 2026, at 91 FR 48946, the Labor Department published the figure that sets every H-2A labour contractor’s surety bond: “the current average AEWR … which is used to calculate the bond amounts” is $15.96. The previous published value was $17.74. 20 CFR § 655.132(c)(2)(ii) computes the bond as a fixed base multiplied by that average and divided by $9.25, so every bond in the schedule fell 10.0338% on the day the wage did — the smallest from $9,589.19 to $8,627.03, a 275-worker contractor’s from $356,717.84 to $320,925.41, a cut of $35,792.43. The notice is three pages of wage tables and does not mention what it has done to the bond. Against the Wage and Hour Division’s own FY2025 H-2A record — $3,935,767 of back wages recovered for 6,275 employees, $627.2139 each — the caseload at which a contractor’s bond stops covering the average claim per worker moved from 61.1542 workers to 55.0181.

Jump to the ladder

Context

American farms that cannot find enough local workers may bring in seasonal workers from abroad on a visa, and the government fixes a minimum wage for that visa so the imported labour does not undercut local pay. Most farms apply for themselves. A smaller group of middlemen — labour contractors — apply instead, hire the workers themselves, and supply them to several farms, and because a middleman can vanish owing wages the law makes him post a bond first. Today’s edition is about how that bond is calculated, which turns out to be a multiplication by the same minimum wage the government has just lowered.

Start with who has to post it. 20 CFR § 655.132 governs an H-2A labour contractor — in the Labor Department’s own words, a person who meets the definition of employer, is “not a fixed-site employer, agricultural association” or their employee, and “recruits, solicits, hires, employs, furnishes, houses, or transports” H-2A workers. He files his own application, names “the name and location of each fixed-site agricultural business” he expects to supply, attaches “copies of fully executed work contracts” with each of them, attaches his MSPA Farm Labor Contractor Certificate of Registration where one is required, proves that any housing and transport the farm provides meets the standards, and files an original surety bond “payable to the Administrator, Wage and Hour Division” with every application. A fixed-site farm applying for itself posts nothing.

Now the formula, which is the edition. The bond is not a number in the regulation; it is a base amount in a table — $5,000 under 25 workers, $10,000 at 25–49, $20,000 at 50–74, $50,000 at 75–99, $75,000 at 100 or more — “multiplied by the average AEWR in effect at the time the bond is submitted” and divided by $9.25. Above 150 workers the schedule adds “two weeks of wages for 50 workers at the average AEWR” for each further block of fifty, which is 80 × 50 × the average. The Labor Department has published its own worked version of this table at an average of $16.13, giving $8,719, $17,438, $34,876, $87,189, $130,784 and, for 275 workers, $324,344. Running the same arithmetic reproduces those figures to the dollar, which is how the formula was checked rather than assumed.

So the entire worker-protection schedule is one multiplication away from the adverse effect wage rate, and until this year that rate only went up. The published bond average was $16.13 into 2024; $16.98 effective 1 January 2024, signed by Deputy Assistant Secretary Lenita Jacobs-Simmons; $17.74 effective 16 December 2024, signed by Assistant Secretary José Javier Rodríguez; and now $15.96 effective 3 August 2026, signed by Acting Assistant Secretary Marek Laco. The steps are +5.2697%, +4.4759%, then −10.0338%. The new figure is 1.0539% below the $16.13 the Department was using in 2023, so three years of indexation have been undone and a little more.

The wage fell because the measurement changed. On 2 October 2025 the Department issued an interim final rule replacing the Agriculture Department’s Farm Labor Survey with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ occupational wage survey as the basis for the rate, splitting each occupation into “two skill-based categories, based on the qualifications in the employer’s job offer,” and adding an adjustment for employer-provided housing. The preamble sets out what it was correcting: “the national average FLS-based AEWR has more than doubled from $8.56 in 2005 to $17.74 in 2025.” The result at state level, in a table circulated to growers by Daniel Ross, in-house counsel at Seso Labor: Idaho from $16.83 to $11.08, a fall of 34.2%; Oregon and Michigan −24.1% and −24.4%; California −15.4%; and in five large states the new rate lands exactly on the state minimum wage, which now binds instead. $15.96 is the simple average of the new rates for the single occupation — farmworkers and labourers in crop, nursery and greenhouse work, SOC 45-2092 — that the bond happens to be pegged to.

Put the smaller bond against what the Wage and Hour Division actually recovers. In FY2025 it closed 355 H-2A compliance actions with violations, recovered $3,935,767 in back wages for 6,275 employees and assessed $5,653,324 in civil money penalties — $11,086.67 of back wages and $15,924.86 of penalties per action, and $627.2139 of back wages per worker. Divide each bond tier by that per-worker figure and you get the caseload at which the bond stops covering an average claim: 13.7545 workers in the lowest tier, 27.5090 in the second, 55.0181 in the third. Under the old average those crossings sat at 15.2885, 30.5771 and 61.1542. The wage cut moved every one of them 10.0338% to the left, and in the 50–74 band alone it put 6.1361 more workers’ worth of average exposure outside the bond.

One named case shows the gap at full size. On 14 January 2025 the Department announced that Reymundo Perez Guzman and his daughter Yadira Perez Gamas, of Snow Hill, North Carolina, had been assessed $85,350 and $81,084 in civil money penalties — $166,434 between them — with $73,094 of back wages recovered for 30 workers, and both debarred from H-2A for three years, for shifting visa and border fees onto workers, paying below the North Carolina rate “often by nearly $4 per hour,” and sending workers to a metal recycling centre and a landscaping business. District Director Richard Blaylock called it “a disturbing disregard for the law and the safety of the workers involved.” A 30-worker contractor’s bond is now $17,254.05. It covers 23.6053% of those back wages and 7.2034% of back wages plus penalties. Under the old average it covered 26.2380%.

Which is where the ladder is, and it is not a comfortable one. Being the contractor is a real, licensed, unglamorous business with a published door: a bond premium of 1% to 3% of face with a $150 minimum, the Labor Department’s own application fee of “$100 plus $10 for each H-2A worker certified” capped at $1,000, and the immigration petition at $545 for an employer with fewer than 25 employees plus a $300 asylum programme surcharge. At 24 workers that is $1,443.81 of cash before a single worker lands — 2.8876× a $500 budget — and then $229 a head of visa and border fees the employer must reimburse, which is another $5,496. To keep $5,000 a month after 2026 federal tax the operator needs $78,212.05 of profit, and with the bond premium and an assumed $1,500 fixed line that is $80,747.29 of gross margin: 54 worker-seasons at $1,495.32 each, which is 0.015434% of the 349,867 positions the Labor Department certified in the first nine months of FY2026.

And the clock on the wage itself has not stopped. The 2 October 2025 rule is an interim final rule whose comment period closed 1 December 2025; no final rule was located on this run. The August notice already carries a second effective date, 17 August 2026, “for entities and states subject to the court order in Kansas et al. v. U.S. Dep’t of Labor,” 749 F. Supp. 3d 1363 (S.D. Ga. 2024). The bond a contractor posts today is sized by a number that is both provisional and litigated, and nothing in the regulation re-sizes it if the wage goes back up.

THE H-2A LABOUR CONTRACTOR’S BOND, PER WORKER, BEFORE AND AFTER 3 AUGUST 2026 B(N) = BASE × AVERAGE AEWR ÷ $9.25 · THE BASE IS A STAIRCASE, THE MULTIPLIER IS A WAGE CROSSINGS MOVED LEFT 10.03% 61.15 → 55.02 WORKERS 30.58 → 27.51 · 15.29 → 13.75 THE 75TH WORKER COSTS $51,762.16 OF EXTRA BOND FACE · PER WORKER ×2.4667 NOW · AVERAGE AEWR $15.96 BEFORE 3 AUG 2026 · $17.74 FY2025 BACK WAGES/WORKER $627.21 $0 $350 $700 $1,050 $1,400 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 WORKERS CERTIFIED UNDER ONE APPLICATION BOND FACE PER WORKER BASES $5,000 / $10,000 / $20,000 / $50,000 / $75,000 × AVERAGE ÷ $9.25. 15.96÷9.25 = 1.725405. FACES $8,627.03 / $17,254.05 / $34,508.11 / $86,270.27 / $129,405.41. X(N) = 80 + 580N÷160. Y($) = 330 − 250$÷1,400. CROSSINGS = FACE ÷ $627.2139. PER WORKER AT N=24 $359.4595 · 74 $466.3258 · 75 $1,150.2703. ALL IN EVIDENCE.
The bond an H-2A labour contractor must post is a staircase of five fixed bases multiplied by one number — the average adverse effect wage rate — so the whole schedule is a wage in disguise. The lower sawtooth is the schedule in force since 3 August 2026 at an average of $15.96; the upper one is the identical schedule at the $17.74 published on 16 December 2024, 10.0338% higher at every point. The dashed line is $627.2139, the average back wages the Wage and Hour Division recovered per H-2A worker in FY2025. Where the sawtooth falls below it the bond no longer covers an average claim, and the wage cut moved every one of those crossings left: 61.1542 workers to 55.0181, 30.5771 to 27.5090, 15.2885 to 13.7545. The vertical step at 75 workers is the one place the schedule moves the other way, and it costs the contractor $51,762.16 of extra face for a single additional worker.

The evidence

10 findings
Federal Register · the multiplier, three months old DOL/ETA, Adverse Effect Wage Rate Updates for Non-Range Occupations, 91 FR 48946 filed 31 July 2026, published 3 August 2026; read 10 November 2026

The average used to calculate every H-2A labour contractor bond is “$15.96”

Three pages of wage tables, signed by Marek Laco, Acting Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training. The operative sentence states that “the current average AEWR determined under 20 CFR 655.103(b), which is used to calculate the bond amounts” required under § 655.132(c)(2)(ii) is $15.96 — a simple average of the rates for SOC 45-2092, farmworkers and labourers in crop, nursery and greenhouse work, across the states and territories. “These rates are effective August 3, 2026,” and for “entities and states subject to the court order in Kansas et al. v. U.S. Dep’t of Labor,” 749 F. Supp. 3d 1363 (S.D. Ga. 2024), 17 August 2026. What the notice does not say. It gives no state-by-state table on its face — those sit in a workbook at the Department’s wage-data page — it gives no count of affected employers or workers, it carries no transfer or cost estimate, and it says nothing whatever about the effect on bonds beyond publishing the multiplier. The notice does not list which states the Kansas order covers.

Federal Register · the two previous values, for the trend DOL/ETA, Adverse Effect Wage Rates for Non-Range Occupations, 16 December 2024; the same notice for 2024, 14 December 2023 read 10 November 2026

“the average AEWR to be used to calculate the bond amounts … is $17.74”, and before it $16.98

The December 2024 notice, effective 16 December 2024 and 30 December 2024 for entities covered by the Kansas order including work performed in Missouri, was signed by José Javier Rodríguez, Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training. Its predecessor, effective 1 January 2024 and signed by Lenita Jacobs-Simmons, Deputy Assistant Secretary, set $16.98. The Department’s own H-2A labour contractor guidance works the schedule at $16.13, the figure in force until about 1 January 2024. The series therefore runs $16.13, $16.98, $17.74, $15.96 — +5.2697%, +4.4759%, −10.0338% — and the current value is 1.0539% below where it stood in 2023. Caveat. No notice between 16 December 2024 and 3 August 2026 publishing a different bond average was located on this run, so the step is treated as consecutive; if an intervening notice exists the drop happened in stages and the end points are unaffected.

Regulation · the sentence that decides the edition 20 CFR § 655.132, H-2A labor contractor filing requirements, paragraph (c) and paragraphs (a)–(d) read 10 November 2026 from Cornell’s reproduction of the CFR

The bond is a base amount “multiplied by the average AEWR” and divided by $9.25

An H-2ALC must file an original surety bond with each application, “payable to the Administrator, Wage and Hour Division,” in force for all liabilities during the certification period and any extension. The base amounts are $5,000 for fewer than 25 workers, $10,000 for 25–49, $20,000 for 50–74, $50,000 for 75–99 and $75,000 for 100 or more, each adjusted by the average AEWR over $9.25; for 150 or more workers the amount rises by two weeks of wages for 50 workers at the average for every further block of fifty. The same section requires “the name and location of each fixed-site agricultural business” to be supplied with dates and crops, “copies of fully executed work contracts” with each, “A copy of the FLC Certificate of Registration” under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act if one is required, and proof that any housing the fixed-site business provides “complies with the applicable standards” and is certified by the State Workforce Agency. The Wage and Hour Administrator may require a higher face value after notice and an opportunity for hearing.

Agency documentation · the Department’s own worked table OFLC, 2022 H-2A Final Rule FAQs, Round 6: H-2A Labor Contractors, 3 August 2023 computed at the $16.13 average; read 10 November 2026

“80 hours x 50 workers x $16.13 = $64,520” — and the formula reproduces to the dollar

The Department publishes its own version of the schedule: $8,719 under 25 workers, $17,438 at 25–49, $34,876 at 50–74, $87,189 at 75–99, $130,784 at 100–149, and for 275 workers $324,344. Running base × $16.13 ÷ $9.25 gives $8,718.92, $130,783.78 and $324,343.78 — the Department’s figures rounded. That check is why every bond figure in this edition is arithmetic rather than inference. The same document defines the H-2ALC as a person who is “not a fixed-site employer, agricultural association” or their employee and who “recruits, solicits, hires, employs, furnishes, houses, or transports” H-2A workers, and records that the Administrator “may require that an H-2ALC obtain a bond with a higher face value amount.” What it does not give. No count of H-2ALCs anywhere, and none was located at OFLC either.

Interim final rule · why the multiplier fell DOL/ETA, Adverse Effect Wage Rate Methodology for the Temporary Employment of H-2A Nonimmigrants in Non-Range Occupations effective 2 October 2025, comments closed 1 December 2025; read 10 November 2026

“the national average FLS-based AEWR has more than doubled from $8.56 in 2005 to $17.74 in 2025”

The rule replaces the Agriculture Department’s Farm Labor Survey with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ occupational employment and wage statistics, consolidates the common field and livestock occupations into five SOC codes where the Farm Labor Survey measured six, and splits each into “two skill-based categories, based on the qualifications in the employer’s job offer,” with the code assigned by the duties performed “for the majority of workdays in the contract period” and a standard adjustment for housing furnished at no cost. The preamble prices the problem it is addressing: a 2025 range “from a low of $14.83 in the Delta Region” to “a high of $19.97 in California,” a “current national average AEWR of $18.12 per hour,” and an increase of “more than $3.75 per hour within just the last 5 to 6 years.” Caveat. This is an interim final rule; no final rule was located on this run, and the portion of the document read covered the first 100,000 characters, which did not reach the regulatory impact analysis or any statement about surety bonds.

Industry · what the new method did at state level Daniel Ross, in-house counsel, Seso Labor, National Labor Update: H-2A Landscape, International Fruit Tree Association © 2025 materials, posted March 2026; read 10 November 2026

Idaho $16.83 → $11.08, a fall of 34.2%, and in five states the state minimum now binds

A state-by-state comparison of the 2025 AEWR against the 2026 Skill Level I H-2A rate: Washington $19.82→$17.13 (−13.6%), Idaho $16.83→$11.08 (−34.2%), Oregon $19.82→$15.05 (−24.1%), Michigan $18.15→$13.73 (−24.4%), New York $18.83→$16.00 (−15.0%), California $19.97→$16.90 (−15.4%) — and in Washington, Oregon, Michigan, New York and California the figure shown is the state minimum wage, which the new federal rate has fallen below. The full two-tier table shows the skill gap: Louisiana $9.59 against $14.84, Kansas $12.69 against $18.14, North Dakota $12.31 against $18.98 — a spread of $6.67 an hour between two skill levels of the same occupation in the same state. The deck also records an “adverse compensation adjustment” subtracted from each rate, from −$0.71 in Puerto Rico to −$3.18 in Hawaii, with the note that it is “NOT A HOUSING DEDUCTION!” Caveat. This is a vendor’s presentation reproducing the Department’s workbook, not the workbook itself, and the Department’s own state table was not read on this run.

Federal enforcement data · what the bond is for Wage and Hour Division, Agriculture enforcement data, H-2A and MSPA; WHD news release, 14 January 2025 FY2025 figures; read 10 November 2026

FY2025: 355 H-2A actions with violations, $3,935,767 of back wages for 6,275 workers

Plus $5,653,324 of civil money penalties assessed — $11,086.67 of back wages and $15,924.86 of penalties per action, and $627.2139 of back wages per worker. The series has risen steadily: 173 actions and $1,379,230 in FY2014 against 355 and $3,935,767 in FY2025. The companion MSPA line, which is where a farm labour contractor’s registration obligations sit, records 151 actions with violations in FY2025, $464,505 of back wages and $1,299,488 of penalties. The named case: Reymundo Perez Guzman and Yadira Perez Gamas of Snow Hill, North Carolina, assessed $85,350 and $81,084 in penalties with $73,094 of back wages for 30 workers and a three-year debarment, for shifting visa and border fees onto workers, paying below the state rate “often by nearly $4 per hour,” sending workers outside the approved contract, and keeping no accurate records; $9,336 of earlier penalties were for operating as an unregistered farm labour contractor. District Director Richard Blaylock: “This case revealed a disturbing disregard for the law and the safety of the workers involved.” Caveat. The enforcement table covers all H-2A employers, not H-2ALCs alone, and no breakdown by employer type is published.

Programme statistics · the size of the market OFLC, H-2A Selected Statistics, FY2026 Q3 1 October 2025 to 30 June 2026; read 10 November 2026

349,867 positions certified in nine months, on 20,180 certified applications

20,695 applications received and 20,638 processed, of which 20,180 certified, 138 denied and 320 withdrawn; 361,405 positions requested and 349,867 certified; 97.6% of applications processed timely, meaning resolved “no later than 30 days before the start date of need.” Top states by positions certified: Georgia 39,586 (11.3%), Florida 35,193, Washington 33,228, California 31,467, North Carolina 25,704. Top occupation: farmworkers and labourers in crop, nursery and greenhouse work, 284,769 positions or 81.4% — the same SOC 45-2092 the bond multiplier is averaged from. Largest single employers by unique employer identification number: NCGA, Inc. 9,590, WAFLA 4,951, Fresh Harvest, Inc. 4,914. Caveat. The statistics publish nothing on attorneys, agents or labour contractors, so the number of H-2ALCs and their share of positions was not established.

Fee schedules · the priced door 20 CFR § 655.163 via the printed CFR; Samantha Ayoub, American Farm Bureau Federation, Snail Mail and Government Bills: H-2A Application Costs, 14 August 2025; Milhollin and Russell, Farmers Guide to the H-2A Visa Program, University of Missouri Extension, revised January 2026; Surety1.com read 10 November 2026

“$100 plus $10 for each H–2A worker certified”, capped at $1,000, and a bond premium of “between 1% and 3%”

The certification fee is capped “per employer for each temporary agricultural labor certification received,” due no more than 30 calendar days after certification, with non-payment treatable as a substantial violation; in a joint-employer agricultural association the members’ fees are aggregated into one payment and the association itself pays nothing extra. The Farm Bureau prices the rest of the federal stack: Form I-129 at $545 for an employer with fewer than 25 employees or $1,090 above that, plus an asylum programme surcharge of “$300 or $600 per petition”; $205 per worker for the DS-160; a border fee that “jumped to $24 per person, a 300% increase” from 22 July 2025; and a visa integrity fee of “a minimum of $250 for every nonimmigrant visa” from 1 October 2025 — a total of “at least $1,350” for one worker and “at least $10,640” for a 20-worker contract, “up over 127% in two years.” Missouri Extension’s own table gives the border fee as $30, transport from the home country at $400 to $650 a worker, association fees at $200, and housing at $9,000 to $13,000 a worker. The bond premium is “usually between 1% and 3% of the bond amount” with a “minimum premium and fees of $150.” Caveat. The premium band and the minimum are one broker’s published page, dated 31 January 2024 and modified 21 June 2025, and are reported rather than quoted; the two sources disagree on the border fee ($24 against $30) and this edition uses the lower; no fee for the MSPA Farm Labor Contractor Certificate of Registration was located on any Department page read; and no posted price for H-2A labour contracting services was found anywhere.

Derived · the arithmetic, shown From the bond averages and § 655.132(c), the WHD FY2025 agriculture table, the OFLC FY2026 Q3 statistics, the published fee schedules, and the 2026 federal rates for a single filer computed 10 November 2026

10.0338% off every bond, and 54 worker-seasons to the target

The multiplier. 15.96 ÷ 9.25 = 1.725405; 17.74 ÷ 9.25 = 1.917838; (15.96 − 17.74) ÷ 17.74 = −10.0338%; 15.96 ÷ 16.13 − 1 = −1.0539%; 16.98 ÷ 16.13 − 1 = +5.2697%; 17.74 ÷ 16.98 − 1 = +4.4759%. The schedule. New: $8,627.03, $17,254.05, $34,508.11, $86,270.27, $129,405.41. Old: $9,589.19, $19,178.38, $38,356.76, $95,891.89, $143,837.84. Differences $962.16, $1,924.32, $3,848.65, $9,621.62, $14,432.43. Block increment above 100 workers: 80 × 50 × 15.96 = $63,840 against 80 × 50 × 17.74 = $70,960; at 275 workers $320,925.41 against $356,717.84, a cut of $35,792.43. Per worker. $359.4595 at 24, $690.1622 at 25 (×1.9200), $352.1236 at 49, $690.1622 at 50 (×1.9600), $466.3258 at 74, $1,150.2703 at 75 (×2.4667, $51,762.16 of extra face for one worker), $871.4169 at 99, $1,294.0541 at 100 (×1.4850). The crossings. $3,935,767 ÷ 6,275 = $627.2139 of back wages per worker; face ÷ that figure gives 13.7545, 27.5090, 55.0181 now against 15.2885, 30.5771, 61.1542 before — a shift of 6.1361 workers in the 50–74 band. The named case. $17,254.05 ÷ $73,094 = 23.6053%; against back wages plus the $166,434 of penalties, 7.2034%; under the old average, 26.2380%. The door. 3% of $8,627.03 = $258.81; plus $100 + 24 × $10 = $340.00; plus I-129 $545 and the asylum surcharge $300 = $1,443.81, which is 2.8876× a $500 budget; plus 24 × ($205 + $24) = $5,496 of per-head fees to advance, for $6,939.81 of working capital, 13.8796× the budget, and $12,939.81 (25.8796×) if the $250 integrity fee is also the employer’s. The target. $5,000 a month after 2026 federal tax, single filer, standard deduction $16,100, brackets 10% to $12,400 and 12% to $50,400 and 22% above, needs profit $78,212.05 — self-employment tax $11,051.01, income tax $7,161.04, kept $60,000.00. With a $1,035.24 bond premium at the 50–74 tier and an assumed $1,500 fixed line that is $80,747.29 of gross margin, or 54 worker-seasons at $1,495.32 each, $6,728.94 a month. At 24 workers the same target needs $3,332.12 per worker-season. The scale. 349,867 ÷ 20,180 = 17.3373 positions per certified application; 54 ÷ 349,867 = 0.015434% of the positions certified in nine months.

The ladder

From $500 to $5,000 a month

Six rungs from $1,443.81 — already 2.8876× the budget, and that is before a dollar of the $5,496 in per-head fees that has to be advanced — to $5,000 a month, in a trade whose licence to operate is priced by a wage the government has just cut by 10.0338%.

  1. Read the bond as a multiplication, because that is what the regulation makes it

    20 CFR § 655.132(c)(2)(ii) does not set a bond; it sets five base amounts and then multiplies them by “the average AEWR in effect at the time the bond is submitted” over $9.25. Everything the schedule protects is therefore hostage to a wage table, and on 3 August 2026 that table moved for the first time downwards. Check the arithmetic against the Department’s own worked figures at $16.13 before trusting any number here.

    B(N) = base × avg ÷ $9.25 · 15.96÷9.25 = 1.725405 · was 1.917838
  2. Price the new schedule, and notice it is below 2023

    $8,627.03 under 25 workers, $17,254.05 at 25–49, $34,508.11 at 50–74, $86,270.27 at 75–99, $129,405.41 at 100–149, rising $63,840 for each further fifty. The average behind it has gone $16.13, $16.98, $17.74, $15.96 — up, up, then down 10.0338% to 1.0539% below where it started. Nothing in the regulation re-sizes a bond already posted if the wage goes back up.

    −$962.16 / −$1,924.32 / −$3,848.65 / −$9,621.62 / −$14,432.43 · −$35,792.43 at 275
  3. Measure the bond against what the Department actually recovers

    FY2025: 355 H-2A actions with violations, $3,935,767 of back wages for 6,275 workers, $5,653,324 of penalties. That is $627.2139 per worker, so the bond stops covering an average claim at 13.7545, 27.5090 and 55.0181 workers — each 10.0338% earlier than before. In the Perez Guzman case the 25–49 bond covers 23.6053% of the back wages and 7.2034% of back wages plus penalties.

    face ÷ $627.2139 · 61.1542 → 55.0181 · the 75th worker adds $51,762.16 of face
  4. Count the door, and do not pretend the $500 reaches it

    Bond premium at 3% of face: $258.81, against a stated minimum of $150. Labour certification: $100 plus $10 for each H-2A worker certified, $340 at 24 workers, capped at $1,000. Petition: $545 under 25 employees plus a $300 asylum surcharge. $1,443.81 — 2.8876× the budget — then $229 a head of visa and border fees to advance and reimburse, $5,496 more, and transport the Extension service puts at $400 to $650 a worker on top.

    $258.81 + $340 + $545 + $300 = $1,443.81 · working capital $6,939.81 = 13.8796×
  5. Get the executed grower contracts first, because the filing is inadmissible without them

    § 655.132 requires “copies of fully executed work contracts” with every named fixed-site business, the name and location of each, the dates and crops, the MSPA certificate where required, and proof that the farm’s housing meets the standards and is certified by the State Workforce Agency. You cannot file speculatively and then sell. The contracts are the product, the bond is the toll, and 97.6% of applications are processed timely only if filed 30 days before the date of need.

    contracts → MSPA certificate → bond → application → I-129 → consulate → first payroll
  6. Do the target arithmetic, then read the verdict

    $5,000 a month after 2026 federal tax is $78,212.05 of profit; with the $1,035.24 premium at the 50–74 tier and an assumed $1,500 fixed line, $80,747.29 of gross margin, or 54 worker-seasons at $1,495.32 each. That is 0.015434% of the 349,867 positions certified in nine months, so demand is not the constraint. No published price for H-2A labour contracting was found anywhere on this run, so the $1,495.32 is a requirement, not an observation, and the verdict below reflects that.

    $80,747.29 ÷ 54 = $1,495.32 · at 24 workers, $3,332.12 · 54 ÷ 349,867 = 0.015434%

Interested in the actual playbook?

Sources

14 primary documents
  1. DOL/ETA, Adverse Effect Wage Rate Updates for Non-Range Occupations, 91 FR 48946 — the $15.96 bond average, signed by Marek Laco — filed 31 July 2026, published 3 August 2026
  2. DOL/ETA, Adverse Effect Wage Rates for Non-Range Occupations — the $17.74 bond average, signed by José Javier Rodríguez — 16 December 2024
  3. DOL/ETA, Adverse Effect Wage Rates for Non-Range Occupations in 2024 — the $16.98 bond average, signed by Lenita Jacobs-Simmons — 14 December 2023
  4. 20 CFR § 655.132, H-2A labor contractor filing requirements — the bond formula, the base schedule and the executed-contract requirement — read 10 November 2026
  5. OFLC, 2022 H-2A Final Rule FAQs, Round 6: H-2A Labor Contractors — the Department's own worked bond table at $16.13 — 3 August 2023
  6. 20 CFR § 655.163, Fees — "$100 plus $10 for each H-2A worker certified", capped at $1,000 — read 10 November 2026
  7. DOL/ETA, Adverse Effect Wage Rate Methodology — the interim final rule that changed the wage basis — effective 2 October 2025, comments closed 1 December 2025
  8. Wage and Hour Division, Agriculture enforcement data — FY2025 H-2A: 355 actions with violations, $3,935,767 of back wages for 6,275 workers, $5,653,324 of penalties — read 10 November 2026
  9. WHD news release — Reymundo Perez Guzman and Yadira Perez Gamas, $166,434 of penalties, $73,094 of back wages for 30 workers, three-year debarment — 14 January 2025
  10. OFLC, H-2A Selected Statistics, FY2026 Q3 — 20,180 applications certified, 349,867 positions — 1 October 2025 to 30 June 2026
  11. Daniel Ross, Seso Labor, National Labor Update: H-2A Landscape — the state-level two-tier AEWR table — posted March 2026
  12. Samantha Ayoub, American Farm Bureau Federation, Snail Mail and Government Bills: H-2A Application Costs — 14 August 2025
  13. Milhollin and Russell, Farmers Guide to the H-2A Visa Program, University of Missouri Extension G703 — revised January 2026
  14. Surety1.com, A Comprehensive Guide to H-2A Farm Labor Contractor Bonds — premium 1–3% of face, $150 minimum — 31 January 2024, modified 21 June 2025

More like this

Same series or same scarce input

Browse the catalog — every edition, by verdict, scarce input and window