About Foreign Labor Certification (FLC)
The FLC program is a U.S. Department of Labor certification program for requesting authorization to hire foreign workers when the employer cannot otherwise hire workers from the U.S. with needed skills.
IDOL ensures that employing foreign workers in the agricultural (H-2A Program) and non-agricultural (H-2B Program) will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers who are comparably employed and has responsibility for the following:
- H2A housing safety inspections. To request a pre-occupancy housing inspection, email us or call (208) 696-2517.
- Review and oversight of FLC job order process
- Post Certification Site Visits
*If you will be using the H2A program and working on farms that aren’t owned or operated by you, you will need to get an Idaho Farm Labor Contractor License. Please go to Agricultural Services for that information.
Filing instructions
- Permanent Labor Certification.
Employers can permanently hire foreign workers. - Professional and Specialty Occupations. (H-1B Program)
Employers can temporarily hire foreign workers on a nonimmigrant basis in specialty occupations. - Agricultural Temporary Labor Certification. (H-2A Program)
Agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers can temporarily hire nonimmigrant foreign workers. - Nonagricultural Temporary Labor Certification. (H-2B Program)
Employers who meet specific regulatory requirements can hire foreign nonimmigrant workers to fill temporary nonagricultural jobs. - Prevailing Wage Information.
The Immigration and Nationality Act requires that hiring a foreign worker will not affect the wages and working conditions of comparably employed U.S. workers. - FLC Forms.
Download and print these PDF forms using Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Responsibilities associated with the use of foreign labor recruiters and ban on prohibited fees: § 655.135 (j) The employer and its agents have not sought or received payment of any kind from any employee subject to 8 U.S.C. 1188 for any activity related to obtaining H-2A labor certification, including payment of the employer’s attorney fees, application fees, or recruitment costs. For purposes of this paragraph (j), payment includes, but is not limited to, monetary payments, wage concessions (including deductions from wages, salary, or benefits), kickbacks, bribes, tributes, in kind payments, and free labor. The provision in this paragraph (j) does not prohibit employers or their agents from receiving reimbursement for costs that are the responsibility and primarily for the benefit of the worker, such as government-required passport fees.