Seasonal Visa Filing Service
Small farms, landscaping crews, resorts and seafood processors need H-2A/H-2B workers every season but can't justify a $400+/hour immigration attorney for routine filings, and the H-2B program's hard annual cap (66,000 visas, split into two half-year allocations) means missing a filing window can cost an employer its entire season's labor. A specialized filing service that knows the DOL FLAG system, prevailing wage timelines, and housing/transportation compliance rules cold can charge a flat per-worker fee well below attorney rates while still carrying healthy margins, because the actual bottleneck for small employers is process knowledge and deadline discipline, not legal complexity.
A solid, defensible niche B2B service with real regulatory tailwinds (chronic H-2B undersupply, growing H-2A volume) but it is not a fast-money business: revenue is lumpy and concentrated around two annual cap windows, requires disciplined attorney-partnership structuring to stay compliant, and demand depends on continued labor tightness in agriculture/hospitality. Best for someone who can commit to becoming genuinely expert in DOL/USCIS seasonal-worker processes and build trust with skeptical small-business owners who've been burned by slow paperwork before.
The real product isn't legal advice, it's calendar discipline: H-2B's cap windows (Oct-Mar and Apr-Sep halves) create a hard filing deadline that a huge share of eligible small employers miss simply because they don't track USCIS cap-count announcements. Position around 'we file the day the window opens' rather than generic immigration help. Housing and transportation compliance documentation (a requirement most small employers get wrong) is a second, less obvious revenue line worth pricing separately.
Volume spikes ahead of the two H-2B cap-window openings (roughly Jan and Jul filing pushes for Apr and Oct start dates) and around spring H-2A planting-season filings.
Suits you if
- ✓You have HR, paralegal, or immigration case-processing experience and enjoy detail-heavy compliance work
- ✓You can build or already have a working relationship with a licensed immigration attorney for oversight
- ✓You're comfortable with feast-or-famine cash flow tied to two annual filing windows
- ✓You like being the person who tracks government deadlines obsessively so clients don't have to
Skip it if
- ✕You want steady month-to-month revenue rather than seasonal spikes
- ✕You're not willing to partner with or retain a licensed attorney for scope-of-practice reasons
- ✕You dislike government portals, paperwork backlogs, and unpredictable processing delays
- ✕You need fast cash flow in the first few weeks
| Units | Revenue range | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | $19,000–$24,000 | Part-time, single cap window, early validation stage |
| 60 | $57,000–$72,000 | Full-time solo operator across both cap windows |
| 120 | $114,000–$144,000 | Requires hiring a second case manager to handle volume |
Skills: Strong document/deadline management, comfort navigating DOL FLAG and USCIS filing systems, ability to explain regulatory requirements clearly to non-lawyers, and enough relationship-building skill to get small employers to trust you with a make-or-break seasonal hiring process.
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