As a business owner, there may be times when you can’t find the right employees in the area. As a result, you might want to turn to international hiring or seeking help from immigrant workers.
It is your responsibility to make sure that any employee you hire is eligible to work in the United States. To do this, you have to file a form called the Employment Eligibility Verification Form, or Form I-9, within three days of hiring the new employee.
Are immigrants able to work legally in the United States?
Yes, some are. Those who have legally immigrated to the United States can work if they have an employment visa. The employee may have a nonimmigrant work visa for a temporary period of time as well, so long as you are willing to sponsor your employee. If you intend to bring another party to the country to work temporarily, you will need to apply for their visa and detail the position in which the immigrant will work. If you lay off the employee or fire them in the future, then they will not be able to work in the United States elsewhere.
You also have the potential to bring an immigrant to the U.S. for a permanent position. To do this, you can sponsor a green card, but this is a complicated process. It’s important to discuss this with your attorney and to know that it can take years to get the application approved depending on where the immigrant is from. Your attorney can give you more information if you plan to do this.