Employment Authorization

jessicah

I work for a small technical staffing firm that works with several large companies, providing them upper level programmers and developers. We recently had a young man apply for a position with us. He is an excellent candidate and we would like to hire him and place him with a client. He is waiting on his EAD, and received a letter from the INS that they are still processing his paperwork and it could be another month. Do we have to wait a month to hire him or is there something we can do in the interim? We are not able to sponser a VISA for him, and I don't know if there are other options. Any Advice?

Don D

You cannot legally employ the individual until you view the documents that authorize him to work in the United States. Be careful to ensure that what he possesses and presents to you are documents listed on the reverse of the I-9. I can tell you from many years of experience that a letter from the U.S. Government advising that they are still processing alien paperwork could mean anything from one day to three years delay! If they are processing documents, nobody needs to sponsor him. He probably would love for you to locate someone who will sponsor him; but, I suggest you have much better things to do with your valuable time than act as his broker. Tell him to come see you as soon as he receives his documentation. You may never see him again. Good luck.

HRsage

If he doesn't have his EAD yet then he is not authorized for employment. As Don said, you can't hire him until he shows you the proper document(s) listed on the I-9 form.
He can check the status of his paperwork on the INS website by entering his case number, once it's approved he can go to the local INS office and see if they can give him a EAD to show to you. That might speed things up a little.