[author: Laura Anne Schierhoff]

President-elect Trump’s winery in Charlottesville, Virginia recently filed visa applications with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The winery said it will need six workers to prune grape vines six days a week , with a pay of $10.72 an hour, from January 31, 2017 to June 30, 2017. The visas requested fall under the H-2A program, which allows employers in the U.S. to fill seasonal agricultural jobs with foreign workers. CNN reports that in the last 15 years, Trump’s various businesses have been granted approval to hire at least 1,256 foreign guest workers. The report states that since June 2015, companies the President-elect owns have requested at least 190 foreign visa workers, through a variety of different visa programs. The H-2A program was created in the 1990s to help agricultural employers bring temporary foreign workers into the U.S. to do seasonal work. As part of the program, employers are required to offer certain wages, plus transportation, and housing when necessary. The H-2A visa holders live and work in the U.S. for several months at a time but are not considered immigrants, and the program is not seen as a pathway to citizenship.