Hiring Policies

• All employers must verify the identity and employment eligibility of any person that they hire. Employment Eligibility Verification forms (I-9s) must be completed and turned in to the DOL before any person can work in the United States. These forms are kept on file for three years from the initial hiring date and one year after employment ends. INA regulations also state that the only people that can legally work within the United States are aliens, nationals and citizens.
  
  

Immigrant Employment

• Before any foreign worker can be hired in the United States, the employer must first apply for a permanent labor certificate from the DOL. Labor certification can also be obtained from the Department of Employment and Training Administration (ETA). The next step for the employer is to petition the United States Citizens and Immigration Services (USCIS) to hire a foreign worker. Once the DOL verifies that there aren't any qualified, able, willing or available U.S. workers for a specific position, then a foreign worker can be employed in that job.
  
  

Crew Members

• There are foreign aliens who travel to America's ports as part of their employment. Sailors and airplane pilots are examples of crew members who temporarily enter the U.S. as part of their job duties. Crew members cannot perform this kind of work in the U.S. unless there is an international agreement between countries in place to perform their duties. Ports must have agreements in place to allow D-visa workers to carry out their duties, and an Attestation form (documentation proving eligibility in their field of employment) from the DOL must be completed by the employee. Crew member employment requirements are fairly complex since they involve foreign workers carrying out their job duties temporarily on U.S. soil.
  
  

Agricultural workers

• Employers can hire temporary or seasonal agricultural foreign workers but only after they have made a reasonable effort to find U.S. workers to fill available positions within their business. After this determination has been made, the employer must send this finding to the USCIS in order to petition for foreign workers. These workers can only be employed for a temporary time period, and they must be released from employment once that specified time period has come to an end.
  
  

Application

• Labor laws must be followed by all employers before any foreign worker can be employed in the U.S. Under the law, undocumented workers must be paid wages and be treated the same as any other type of employee who performs the same duties. The Fair Labor Standard Act has regulations which protect undocumented laborers from being exploited. There are also laws that protect the rights of undocumented foreign workers and aliens who falsify employment documents in order to work within the United States. INA policy will not offer such protection because all aliens must be legally able to work within the United States before starting their employment.