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Over the course of her career, Ms. Alice Yardum-Hunter has given many speeches and has published numerous articles to the lay and professional attorney reader alike. The writings and speeches published here and elsewhere are a sampling of her works.
These publications are made available for your personal edification, but are copyrighted and may be used or reprinted only with permission.
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Published Correspondence on Employment Authorization Questioning
6/24/1993
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by William Ho-Gonzalez
Correspondence from Special Counsel, US Department of Justice on employer questioning of prospective employee immigration status as published in 70 Interpreter Releases 10/4/1993 |
Dear Ms. Yardum-Hunter:
This is in response to your letter to me, dated June 15, 1993, regarding employer inquiries of employment applicants. In your letter you inquire as to whether an employer may ask job applicants in the context of a labor certification application: Are you in an immigration status which authorizes you to work only for your current employer?" You state this will inform employers whether an individual is currently in a visa category that authorizes him to work only for a specific employer, e.g., an H-1B visa.
Of course this office cannot give you an advisory opinion on any particular case or set of facts. However, in general, this offices does not see a problem with making such an inuqiry as long as the inquiry is made of all applicants for employment, and the information obtained is not used to discriminate on the basis of national origin or citizenship status.
As you know, this office has previously suggestsed that an employer may ask employment applicants whether they are "currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis_. Employers in the contextof the labor certification process may wish to amend this inquiry as follows to address the problem you describe: "Are you currently authorized to work for all employers in the United States on a full-time basis, or only for your current employyer?"
We hope this response is of assistance to you.
Sincerely,
William H0-Gonzalez
Special Counsel
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