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    2. Legal Topics
    3. Immigration
    4. Employers Sponsoring or Hiring Immigrant Workers
    5. Hiring Non-U.S. Workers

Hiring Foreign Workers in the U.S.: First Things to Know

Employers' basic legal obligations when hiring noncitizens to work in the
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   If you’re recruiting for your business, you’ll want to make sure new
   hires are authorized to work in the United States. (See Legal Pitfalls
   of Hiring Undocumented Workers.) How will you know, though, if a
   prospective employee has “papers”? Can you ask? Must you ask? If
   someone you want to hire doesn’t have the necessary papers, what can
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Why and How to Ask About Work Authorization

   Whether or not you are actively considering hiring foreign workers when
   you recruit for a position in your company, the U.S. government regards
   you as a prospective employer of foreign workers and gives you a role
   to play in enforcing immigration laws.

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   immigration to the U.S., and the law aims to remove this magnet by
   compelling employers to make sure new hires fit into one of the four
   classes of legal workers:
     * U.S. citizens
     * noncitizen nationals
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   You don’t actually have to know how each of these categories of legal
   workers is defined, because the Form I-9 instructions and the Handbook
   spell out exactly what documents will count to establish employment
   authorization. They also make it clear that the choice of which
   documents to present is not the employer’s but the employee’s.

   What’s more, an employer’s preference for one class of legal worker
   over another could actually be construed as illegal discrimination.
   For, at the same time that the law obliges you to confirm that every
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What You Can Do If a Prospective Hire Doesn’t Have Work Authorization

   If a worker you want to hire doesn’t have the necessary authorization,
   you might be able to help him or her get it. Then again, you might not.
   No standard, general-purpose work authorization exists under
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   What’s more, the rules and procedures for obtaining work authorization
   for foreign workers can seem formidably complex and difficult, resting
   as they do on a central underlying tension between the imperative to
   make needed workers available to U.S. employers and the imperative to
   protect the wages and working conditions of the existing U.S.
   workforce.

   Depending upon the requirements of the job you are trying to fill, the
   qualifications of the worker you are trying to hire, and the amount of
   time, money and effort you are willing to expend, you may be able to
   sponsor a prospective employee for lawful permanent residence in the
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   As stated above, lawful permanent residents constitute one of the four
   classifications of legal workers in the United States. Theoretically,
   at least, a green card can be founded on any full-time permanent job,
   though the labor certification requirements imposed on most jobs and
   the long waiting times under the yearly quotas make the practical
   reality a different matter. (For a complete description of the process,
   see articles concerning Procedures to Sponsor a Worker for a Green
   Card.)

   Alternatively, what immigration law offers you is a variety of
   “nonimmigrant,” or temporary, visa categories authorizing a variety of
   specific kinds of employment for certain set periods of time.
   Sometimes, nonimmigrant status can actually serve more as a stepping
   stone than as an alternative to the green card, allowing an employer to
   employ a green card candidate during the typically long time it takes
   to get a green card. (See Nonimmigrant Work Visa as Stepping Stone to a
   Green Card for a more detailed discussion.)

   The work-authorizing nonimmigrant visa categories cover what appears to
   be a broad array of kinds of work, from seasonal laborers (H-2A, H-2B)
   to illustrious artists, scientists, educators and businessmen (O-1);
   from specialized knowledge workers (E-1, E-2, L-1B), professionals
   (H-1B, E-3, TN), and multinational executives (L-1A) to religious
   workers (R-1), athletes, and entertainers (P-1, P-2, P-3, Q-1). (See
   Types of Nonimmigrant (Temporary) Visas: Who Qualifies? for a complete
   listing of nonimmigrant visa categories.)

   But despite the apparent variety, many jobs will fall through the
   cracks between the work-authorizing nonimmigrant visa categories, as
   each category is narrowly defined, imposing specific requirements on
   both employer and employee.
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   Immigration Law Immigration Law Basics Getting a Visa, Green Card or
   Asylum Getting a Green Card Becoming a U.S. Citizen Family Sponsors
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