Foreign Workers

Hiring and Employment

The following resources provide information from the U.S. Department of Labor describing how to comply with federal labor regulations regarding the hiring and employment of foreign workers.

• Labor Laws and Foreign Workers
  Foreign labor certification programs, administered in part by the U.S. Department of Labor, permit U.S. employers to hire foreign workers on a temporary or permanent basis to fill jobs essential to the U.S. economy. These programs are generally designed to ensure that the admission of foreign workers into the United States on a permanent or temporary basis will not adversely affect the job opportunities, wages, and working conditions of U.S. workers.
• Foreign Labor Certification
  Provides information on the foreign labor certification process and how employers may apply to bring foreign workers into the United States for employment.
• Hiring Guest Workers
  This page describes the U.S. Department of Labor's certifications issued for permanent and temporary employment under the following programs:Permanent Labor Certification; H-1C Nurses in Disadvantaged Areas; H-2A Temporary Labor Certification (Seasonal Agricultural); H-2B Temporary Labor Certification (Non-agricultural); and D-1 Crewmembers Certification.
• Wages Under Foreign Labor Certification
  The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers on a temporary or permanent basis to perform certain types of work. The U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration generally grants certification to employers to obtain special visas in order to hire foreign workers in cases where there are insufficient qualified U.S. workers available and willing to perform work at wages that meet or exceed the prevailing wage paid for that occupation in the area of intended employment.

Tax Information

• Taxation of Foreign Agricultural Workers
  Foreign agricultural workers temporarily admitted into the United States on H-2A visas are always exempt from U.S. social security and medicare taxes, whether they are resident aliens or nonresident aliens. Consult this guide for additional tax information if you employ foreign agricultural workers.
• Taxation of Nonresident Aliens
  Describes federal income tax rules for nonresident aliens.