Healthy Harvest Company runs a candy and fruit processing and packaging plant. Most of Healthy Harvest's business is done during holiday seasons, especially between Halloween and New Year's Day, and in the spring. The company hires a large temporary

Question

workforce during its busiest times. Occasionally, a position opens for an individual with highly specialized skills, particularly to operate and maintain the company's inventory and sales control systems. Can Healthy Harvest hire noncitizens for its temporary, seasonal work? Can the company hire a noncitizen with special skills for certain jobs? If so, what procedures must the employer follow in both situations to do this hiring? If not, how can Healthy Harvest be assured that it is hiring only citizens?

Answer 1

It is illegal to hire for work in the United States a person who is not authorized to work here. Thus, under no circumstances can an employer legally hire a noncitizen who is in the United States unlawfully. But an employer may hire a noncitizen who is a lawful permanent resident. The principal responsibility to verify an individual's identity and eligibility to work rests with the employer. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) supplies a form—Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification—that an employer must complete within three days of hiring an employee (and retain for three years). An employer has some defenses against alleged violations but is otherwise subject to penalties for illegally employing noncitizens. Lawful permanent residency can be proved by an I-551 Alien Registration Receipt, or "green card.". Subject to certain strict requirements, an employer may apply for a "green card" for a noncitizen. Persons who immigrate to the United States to work include those with special skills, such as an individual who might qualify to fill the job with Healthy Harvest in this question. To hire such an individual who is not otherwise authorized to work here, an employer must petition the CIS. The employer can obtain a visa for a person to work in the United States in a highly qualified, specialty occupation as part of the H-1B visa program.