state valid green card on resume?

[Yader&Sarah 0]

Hi all--

Yader and I are trying to send his resume to a couple places and halfway through I started thinking, is it weird, or necessary, to state that he has a valid green card on his resume?

His experience with general labor, maintenance and 'all things you can typically do without a green card' plus his latino last name make me second guess myself?

Does anyone have any relevant experience or advice concerning this?

thanks!

[trillium13 84]

When my husband sent out resumes, he used a cover letter. In the cover letter it said something like: "I am a citzen of Germany but have recently obtained permanent residence in the US." I don't remember exactly, but you get the idea. I think it's a good idea to mention in some way or another that your husband has a valid GC-because it will strike many employers as odd if he has no (legal)work or credit history.

[Jamaican JNR 2]

Hi all--

Yader and I are trying to send his resume to a couple places and halfway through I started thinking, is it weird, or necessary, to state that he has a valid green card on his resume?

His experience with general labor, maintenance and 'all things you can typically do without a green card' plus his latino last name make me second guess myself?

Does anyone have any relevant experience or advice concerning this?

thanks!

It really doesnt matter, cause they (employer) are going to ask for SSN and valid state id at the interview.

[lucyrich 20]

There are some anti-discrimination issues that might come up. If you look at the I-9 form ( http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-9.pdf ), at the very top, it talks about being illegal for an employer to discriminate based on what kind of employment authorization an employee may have.

Perhaps, if you are too specific and say you have a green card, you may open up your employer up for an appearance of discrimination. Then again, maybe not, and maybe it's not your problem. I know it used to be common to put a photo on a resume, but that practice made it easy for employers to sort resumes by race, and whether they did that or not, it made it possible for people to accuse them of doing so. So these days, many employers would prefer not to see your photo on a resume.

It should be safe to say "legally authorized to work in the US", or something like that. Many job applications have a question like that on them.

[winifredbee 1]

Hey Sarah,

We put a line at the bottom of Balvino's resume that says: Permanent resident of the United States, with work authorization.

I just posted a question about working under the table. I am finding that a lot of work is not on the record here. This really bothers me. How are you?

[NycBra 4]

It is technically illegal for an employer to ask the immigration status during interview. And unfortunately some employers don't even call certain applicants for interviews because they just assume they are foreigners (given that the name is not "american"). To avoid having to ask for their immigration status, they just don't select those applicants for interviews.

To avoid it, I have on my resume under my "profile" section (a short bio about my qualifications, specialties, etc) which says "Fully authorized to work in U.S. (green-card holder)".

I've seen other people listing at the bottom of the resume something on the same line. I totally recommend writing something on the resume. Very few employers actually read the cover letter. Your husband should write it on the cover letter as well, but it is good to keep in his resume.

Edited October 8, 2009 by NycBra

[Malrothien 6]

It is definitely illegal for an employer to ask if you have valid work authorization and what your current immigration status is. All you need to simply say if asked (don't go out of your way to point it out - aka don't put it in a cover letter or resume) "I am legally allowed to work in the US."

I had the same problem when I came to Canada. It is also illegal here to ask.

[Thai Rath 1]

It is definitely illegal for an employer to ask if you have valid work authorization and what your current immigration status is. All you need to simply say if asked (don't go out of your way to point it out - aka don't put it in a cover letter or resume) "I am legally allowed to work in the US."

I had the same problem when I came to Canada. It is also illegal here to ask.

That's not entirely correct; it is legal to ask a job applicant "Are you authorized to work in the U.S.?" You are correct, though, that it's not legal to inquire about someone's immigration status.

I work in human resources with a lot of applicants applying from abroad, so we have made sure that we are asking the correct questions.

[Matt & Bing 56]

It is definitely illegal for an employer to ask if you have valid work authorization and what your current immigration status is. All you need to simply say if asked (don't go out of your way to point it out - aka don't put it in a cover letter or resume) "I am legally allowed to work in the US."

I had the same problem when I came to Canada. It is also illegal here to ask.

That's not entirely correct; it is legal to ask a job applicant "Are you authorized to work in the U.S.?" You are correct, though, that it's not legal to inquire about someone's immigration status.

I work in human resources with a lot of applicants applying from abroad, so we have made sure that we are asking the correct questions.

Thanks. I found it hard to believe that a potential employer could not ask a job applicant if they were authorized to work! Aren't employers supposed to know if a potential employee is authorized to work?? Seems like it would be required, not illegal.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

It is definitely illegal for an employer to ask if you have valid work authorization and what your current immigration status is. All you need to simply say if asked (don't go out of your way to point it out - aka don't put it in a cover letter or resume) "I am legally allowed to work in the US."

I had the same problem when I came to Canada. It is also illegal here to ask.

That's not entirely correct; it is legal to ask a job applicant "Are you authorized to work in the U.S.?" You are correct, though, that it's not legal to inquire about someone's immigration status.

I work in human resources with a lot of applicants applying from abroad, so we have made sure that we are asking the correct questions.

Thanks. I found it hard to believe that a potential employer could not ask a job applicant if they were authorized to work! Aren't employers supposed to know if a potential employee is authorized to work?? Seems like it would be required, not illegal.

They can and have to ask if one is authorized to work. They are not supposed to ask about your immigration status, or make hiring decisions based on that... reason being the I-9 form has other means of proving one's eligibility.