San Francisco Immigration Law Blog

There are more immigrants in California than any other state, but few people – especially native-born Americans – stop to consider the terrible injustices inflicted upon immigrant workers in many employment settings. You and others may be interested in learning about employment rights for immigrants, especially when it concerns undocumented workers and those in industries where abuse is rampant.

Many immigrants, particularly the undocumented, work in the agriculture and construction industries in California and elsewhere. As you may have heard, unscrupulous employers commonly exploit these groups for their own financial gain, preying on undocumented immigrants’ lack of knowledge of their rights and their fears of deportation to threaten and abuse them. Public Radio International has outlined common employer abuses against immigrants, which include the following:

• Forcing them to work in unsafe, unsanitary and inhumane conditions
• Making them work overtime without compensation
• Withholding wages or paying a fraction of minimum wage
• Threatening to discipline or report workers to immigration officials if they stand up for their rights
• Holding workers against their will

As someone looking to immigrate permanently to California or another part of the United States, you may be interested in finding out more about what it takes to establish lawful permanent residency. With this distinction, you will become eligible for the vast majority of available jobs in the United States, and you can also apply to become a U.S. citizen after holding permanent resident status for at least five years. At the Law Offices of Robert P. Gaffney, we have a firm understanding of your options when it comes to immigrating to the United States through employment, and we have helped many clients facing similar circumstances find solutions to help them do so.

According to the American Immigration Council, there are typically three steps in the process of establishing lawful permanent residency in the United States. First, the employer looking to add you to his or her team will need to first secure certification from the U.S. Department of Labor. To do so, he or she will need to demonstrate that there are no U.S. residents who are able and capable of filling the position for a reasonable wage.

Attorney Robert P. Gaffney recently participated in two "EB-5 To H-1B" Expos in Phoenix and San Jose, California. The first expo took place March 27 at the Sheraton Grand Phoenix and the San Jose expo occurred at Wyndham Garden San Jose Airport on March 29.

As the U.S. government has made it more difficult for skilled workers abroad to get approved for H-1B visas, more and more foreign nationals have turned to the EB-5 visa as an option for living and working in the United States. The EB-5 visa allows wealthy individuals to immigrate to the U.S. in exchange for investing at least $500,000 in a new commercial enterprise in this country.