Finding qualified people to work in your business is one of the most challenging things about owning a company. Some of the most talented and qualified candidates you will find will not come from the United States. There are other countries that are more technologically advanced than we are. There are also some situations where you may simply not be able to afford to employ a large number of American workers for a certain job.
Fortunately, there are several ways a business person can sponsor an immigrant they want to hire, You just need to fill out the appropriate paperwork and exercise a few precautions.
How to Get Started
The Department of Labor and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service are the entities that set the standards and oversee the process of an employer-sponsored green card.
If you want to hire a foreign worker, you must first establish that you did not have any qualified American applicants.
The worker you want to hire should have exceptional skills or extraordinary abilities. It will also help if they have an advanced degree. The process for sponsoring a green card can take up to a year. You should have the assistance of an immigration law firm before you begin.
You will want to start by going to the Department of Labor website and filling out a Prevailing Wage Determination form. This form is required so you can show that you will pay the employee you are sponsoring the average wage for the job you are trying to fill. The prevailing wage rate is just the median wage paid to workers in a certain job in the same area of intended employment.
The form asks what the job will entail and the qualifications for it. It will also ask for the location where the work will be performed. The government requires this form to ensure that the hiring of foreign workers does not negatively affect the working conditions or salaries of Americans.
Proving Need
Even if you have the perfect candidate for the job, you will have to prove that you tried to hire an American first. You will want to take out an ad on a classified job site such as Indeed. You must also list the job on the state’s workforce site and you must notify your current employees of the position.
If you do get applicants, you must interview them. It is the best idea to offer them a job if they meet your qualifications. If you reject a qualified American applicant so you can hire a person in search of a green card, it might look like a fraud.
After waiting a reasonable amount of time for applications, you can then fill out an ETA 9089 form. It will be several months before you find out if they are approved.
If they are approved, you must fill out an I-140 form. The form will ask you questions about the financial solvency of your business and the employee’s qualifications for the job. The form will take about 4 months to be approved or denied.
The Current Suspension of I-140
In April of 2020, the current administration issued a proclamation that would suspend the entry of certain immigrants who were applying for green cards in the United States.
President Trump argued that immigrants would hurt the US economy by taking jobs away from citizens. The proclamation only affects new immigrants. It does make exceptions for doctors who are coming to the United States to look for a cure for Coronavirus. It also accepts those who are coming to the United States on an Investor’s Visa as well as individuals who are coming to the country to work with United States law enforcement.
The proclamation is in effect until the end of 2020. Unless your company is a contractor who is directly involved in combating the Coronavirus, it is unlikely that you would be able to help an employee get a green card at this time. President-Elect Joe Biden is expected to ease this and other immigration policies when he takes office on January 20, 2021.
Although the Statue of Liberty asks for the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the people who have the best chance of getting a green card are energetic, remunerative, and willing to spend long hours working hard in an office.