Finding Work, Housing and Happiness as an Immigrant

Posted on: 24 April 2015

Hiring foreigners has become a real challenge after the latest financial crisis, as the federal government tries to make sure that only U.S. citizens and permanent residents have access to American jobs. Yet, U.S. employers have been complaining about the lack of domestic workers for positions requiring qualifications that few Americans possess, such as in maths or IT. This is why these entities are turning to foreign labor. If you're a business owner and have one or more alien workers that you want to sponsor, then you must work with an attorney. Here's why.

The attorney knows how to overcome the barriers to foreign labor sponsorship

As mentioned earlier, the federal government seeks to protect Americans from being negatively affected by the interests of alien workers in U.S-based job openings. To enforce such a protection, the government requires that all employers seeking to hire aliens meet a variety of eligibility criteria. Of all those requirements, proving that there's no American worker willing or available to hold the advertised job opening is by far the most challenging to meet.

The completion of this requirement mandates that you create a position and advertise it through popular channels, such as employment sites or newspapers, for 30 consecutive days. Overcoming this barrier isn't simple, especially since a fraud audit might be triggered at any given time. For example, if the job description is curtailed based on the qualifications of your alien worker, then the petition will be flagged as fraudulent. Working with an attorney will help you avoid finding yourself in such a situation.

The immigration lawyer will help your alien worker secure their work visa

Assuming that no fraud audit is triggered, your alien worker will receive a labor certification from the Department of Labor (DOL). Sometimes referred to as the permanent labor certification (PERM), this document will then need to be submitted to the USCIS when filing the work visa petition for your alien worker. This step is less complicated than the one described above since the USCIS officer will simply review some of the documents that you submitted before. As soon as the work visa is issued, your alien employee may start working legally.

Securing a work visa for alien workers is an arduous, but not impossible task to complete. To make sure that you won't spend money in vain in USCIS fees, hire an immigration attorney and have the peace of mind that you will soon be able to use the qualifications of the alien worker to grow your business.