How to Sponsor an Employee for Permanent Residence
Employers must be willing to put in the time, effort and funds to obtain their critical worker
By Doug Mentes, Esq. | Last updated on January 26, 2023Use these links to jump to different sections:
- Is There a Need for a Foreign Worker?
- How To Prove the Need for the Foreign Employee?
- Changes Will Make It More Difficult

Is There a Need for a Foreign Worker?
Robert Nadalin is an immigration attorney in San Diego, and says there is a need for these employees. For proof, he says, look no further than the student enrollment of our graduate schools. “In a lot of our graduate programs, 50 percent to 70 percent of the students are from somewhere other than here,” he says. “If somebody needs a physicist or a PhD electrical engineer, or a PhD bio-scientist, sure there are U.S. kids that go through those programs too, but in terms of percentage of the students at the graduate level, a lot of times a larger percentage of those persons are foreign students. And so, with employers, I think their first preference would be to hire a U.S. worker, but sometimes there aren’t enough people with those skills so [the employer] ends up needing to step into this visa sponsorship process just to fill the available job.”How To Prove the Need for the Foreign Employee?
To prove the need for a foreign worker, the employer must demonstrate that:- there is not a U.S. worker able, qualified, and willing to accept the job offer for the prevailing wage for that position in the local area
- the hire will not adversely affect the wages or working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers
Changes Will Make It More Difficult
With news of increased enforcement of H-1B visas under the Trump administration, Nadalin says he’s seeing increased enforcement as well with employment-based green card applications. “The laws have all stayed the same, regulations have mostly stayed the same. But with the [Buy American Hire American] executive order, I think that’s pushed adjudicators toward a stricter enforcement stance,” says Nadalin. “Things that should get approved—most of them ultimately are getting approved—but it’s only after very careful vetting. And I think these processes have become more complicated and have started to take longer than they have in the past and that’s just the examiners examining every point of qualification very closely.” The process for retaining an employee with a green card was already complex. Currently with increased enforcement across all areas of U.S. immigration, employers are advised to seek out an experienced immigration attorney to guide them. For more information on work visas, the permanent residence process, and immigration law, see our immigration overview.What do I do next?
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