No more filings falling through the cracks.

H-2A employers are required to submit a job order to the State Workforce Agency (SWA) at least 60 days before the date of need. The DOL then has 30 days to process the job order before you can file the actual H-2A petition. Starting the job order late is the most common cause of crew arrival delays. Seso tracks your date of need and sends reminders to keep you ahead of this window.

Seso helps you prepare, organise, and track every element of the H-2A filing process — but the employer of record (your farm or company) is the named petitioner under DOL rules. Seso is a workflow and compliance management tool, not a legal representative or authorised DOL agent. We guide you through the process; you remain the responsible party. We recommend working with an immigration attorney for complex cases.

When H-2A workers arrive, you'll need to complete I-9 employment eligibility verification within 3 business days, confirm their visa documents, provide written notice of all terms and working conditions (in their language if possible), and document housing assignments. Seso provides a worker arrival checklist and stores all completed documents in your compliance archive.

The three-quarters guarantee requires that you offer H-2A workers employment for at least 75% of the workdays in the contract period. If you fail to offer that minimum, you must pay workers for the hours not offered. This is a key DOL compliance requirement and a common source of wage disputes. Seso tracks hours against the 3/4 threshold so you always know where you stand.

The full H-2A process typically takes 60–90 days from job order submission to worker arrival. This includes the 30-day DOL job order review period, petition processing time (typically 2–4 weeks for regular processing), and visa appointment scheduling. Premium processing with USCIS can speed up the petition phase, but the DOL job order review timeline is fixed. Plan to start the process at least 75 days before your date of need.

DOL can audit H-2A employers to verify compliance with program terms — wage rates, hours, housing standards, transport records, and I-9 compliance. If you receive an audit notice, you'll need to produce documentation in all 12 standard audit categories within the timeframe specified. Because Seso archives every document automatically throughout the season, most of what auditors request is already organised and retrievable. See our DOL audit checklist for what to prepare in advance.