Background check - Permanent Resident

[retheisen 10]

It may happen, but it is not legal at all.

Federal law says that employers cannot discriminate against you because of your immigration status. Employers cannot:

• Refuse to hire you, or fire you, because of your immigration status or because you are not a U.S. citizen.

• Require you to show a Permanent Resident Card, or reject your lawful work papers.

• Prefer hiring undocumented workers.

• Discriminate against you because of your national origin (or country of origin).

• Retaliate against any employee who complains of the above treatment. For more information about your rights, or to file a complaint, call the Office of Special Counsel at 1-800-255-7688 or 1-800-237-2515 (for hearing impaired). If you do not speak English, interpreters

You can check that at page 37

http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/nativedocuments/M-618.pdf

You will find that the US is an employer-friendly nation and prospective employees can be rejected "without cause" very easily. The employer will simply state that there were other "more qualified" candidates. Case closed. Once you are hired and have been employed for 60 to 90 days, terminating you becomes a bit more challenging but employment contracts are generally unheard of for all but very top level directors and officers and if the company wants you gone they can find a way to do it legally. I am not saying this is a bad thing, it is just the reality of employment in the US. On the plus side, IT is generally a good field to be in in the US and most companies are pretty decent to their IT staff. It is quite easy to make yourself "valuable" in IT here and have a job for as long as you want it.

[fbragasilva88 17]

You will find that the US is an employer-friendly nation and prospective employees can be rejected "without cause" very easily. The employer will simply state that there were other "more qualified" candidates. Case closed. Once you are hired and have been employed for 60 to 90 days, terminating you becomes a bit more challenging but employment contracts are generally unheard of for all but very top level directors and officers and if the company wants you gone they can find a way to do it legally. I am not saying this is a bad thing, it is just the reality of employment in the US. On the plus side, IT is generally a good field to be in in the US and most companies are pretty decent to their IT staff. It is quite easy to make yourself "valuable" in IT here and have a job for as long as you want it.

Gotcha! I think I am just too used with the old-fashioned labor laws in Brazil... lol

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Why wouldn't requiring 'US Citizenship' be legal? For example, there are many gov't positions which require US citizenship.....nothing illegal about that requirement, especially when pertaining to National Security or Federal Gov't.

True that!

Require US citizenship isn't legal when you are under the status of "permanent resident" .. but well, what can we do if they do so? lol

Edited May 4, 2015 by Udella&Wiz

[fbragasilva88 17]

Why wouldn't requiring 'US Citizenship' be legal? For example, there are many gov't positions which require US citizenship.....nothing illegal about that requirement, not sure where that came from.

I would say that those gov't positions that require 'US Citizenship' are the only ones that can do it? Like voting that can only be done as a US citizen?

Here in Brazil, to take a government position, you need to be a citizen, but for ordinaries jobs it cannot be required.

Ofc, like it was said before, they can deny your for whatever reason even if it is not true..

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Not sure where this is taken from, but since an HR department is required to fill out an I9 for each employee, they will need to see proof of your legal right to work in the US - one of which would be your PR card.

It may happen, but it is not legal at all.

Federal law says that employers cannot discriminate against you because of your immigration status. Employers cannot:

• Refuse to hire you, or fire you, because of your immigration status or because you are not a U.S. citizen.

• Require you to show a Permanent Resident Card, or reject your lawful work papers.

• Prefer hiring undocumented workers.

• Discriminate against you because of your national origin (or country of origin).

• Retaliate against any employee who complains of the above treatment. For more information about your rights, or to file a complaint, call the Office of Special Counsel at 1-800-255-7688 or 1-800-237-2515 (for hearing impaired). If you do not speak English, interpreters

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Very true....and honestly who wants to work them at that point anyway, be thankful you found out what kind of company they were before working there.

I would say that those gov't positions that require 'US Citizenship' are the only ones that can do it? Like voting that can only be done as a US citizen?

Here in Brazil, to take a government position, you need to be a citizen, but for ordinaries jobs it cannot be required.

Ofc, like it was said before, they can deny your for whatever reason even if it is not true..

[fbragasilva88 17]

Not sure where this is taken from, but since an HR department is required to fill out an I9 for each employee, they will need to see proof of your legal right to work in the US - one of which would be your PR card.

http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/nativedocuments/M-618.pdf

You can find it at page 37 at the bottom

Makes totally sense what you're saying anyway!

Edited May 4, 2015 by fbragasilva88

[wodm 1]

Here is my experience. I came to US on November 2013. I did nto really started looking for a job until July 2014. I am in the IT field like you. The first problem I faced was most IT compagnies did not like the fact I never had a job in US. Certain big insurance compagnies (Their IT departement) requires a certain residency period in the US with greencard (3Years I think) to run background check on you.

I was lucky enough to have an offer from a second market mortgage compagny and one of their requirements is that I pass background and medical checks. The medical was a peace of cake but the background check since I never worked in the US they hired the services of a 3rd compagny to do the international background check. So I filled a bunch of papers and authorizations so that 3rd party compagny could do the background check inthe previous countries I lived in. They basically verified your degrees, past experience and police clearences. It did not went as smooth as I wished but at the end the compagny sent a copy of their reports to the hiring compagny and to me. A background check was done also here in the US using your SS. My name was not reported correctly by one of my credit cards which triggerred an alert but nothing serious.

I think what helped me here in the US and may be what you should do is to find someone to add you as an authorized user in one of his credit cards if he has a very good credit record. My brother is arround 830 credit score he was adding me to his credit card and it helped me a lot.

[fbragasilva88 17]

Wow, that's a lot of work for a simple job...

I wonder why they might don't want to hire you just because you're not an US citizen or never worked before in US...

[wodm 1]

It depends some IT consulting firms have contract with the government so to send you there you may need top clearence or something like that. Some requires only Public Trust clearance level you can get it if you have green card but you need to be living in US for quite some time that's why they don't like first time workers in the US because basically they won't pass this clearence. It all depends on the kind of position and client requirements.

[jjbandero 39]

It really depends on the type of positions you are applying for, for example, I am in Finance, and for senior finance positions within my company, you have to pass both the background check and a credit check, this is because they don't want people with financial problems to work in sensitive finance roles where they may be tempted to do something inappropriate. As I was an international hire and I was submitting my international certifications, they also conducted an education validation process, this was farmed out to a 3rd party vendor that specialized in verification.

There are ways run a background check on you, but whether it provides any information and whether the employer is comfortable with what is provided is another story.