Work card

Last updated

A work card is like an identity card which verifies that a person has been given work, or is eligible to perform work in a given profession or jurisdiction. The work card is not a work visa, although it may be used in conjunction with a work visa, permanent resident card or other documentation.

Contents

Work cards are often used in countries with high unemployment to certify that the individual meets certain legal requirements (such as head of household, or with dependent children) making him or her eligible for work.

Work cards are also used in certain industries like construction (where specialized training and safety skills are required) [1] or gambling (where background and credit checks are required to reduce the incidence of crime). [2] In Brazil, workers' cards (carteira de trabalho) are signed by employers as a guarantee and recognition that workers are to receive rights and benefits. The cards differentiate employees who work on a cash basis from those who are entitled to receive protections like sick days, social security, and vacation days. [3]

Work cards are used in some employment situations, such as prostitution, so that government officials may track the number of workers in a given industry. Frequent renewal of work cards may also be required to ensure that workers undergo regular health check-ups, or to gather information on working conditions or the incident of crime (such as assault against the prostitute, or a prostitute's criminal background). [4]

Work cards are increasingly used in the European Union (EU) to verify an individual's citizenship in a member-nation, and the kind of work which that individual may engage in. For example, citizens of states with provisional membership in the EU must obtain both an EU work card and a work card from nation in which they wish to work. [5]

In cases where a union has won the closed shop, a work card may be issued by a trade union. The work card will permit the non-union worker to work in the industry or for the employer with union permission. [6]

See also

Notes

  1. Workers Performing Specialized Construction Work, Ontario Ministry of Labour, August 2006, retrieved 2009-07-30
  2. "ACLU Still Critical of State's Work Card Proposal," Gambling Magazine, September 10, 2002; "County Rethinks Work Card Requirements," Gambling Magazine, April 3, 2001.
  3. Williams, Erica Lorraine (2016). "Melo, Laudelina de Campos (1904–1991)". In Knight, Franklin W.; Gates, Jr, Henry Louis (eds.). Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro–Latin American Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-199-93580-2.  via  Oxford University Press 's Reference Online (subscription required)
  4. "Section 4-9-13: Work Permit Registration Requirements." Municipal Code, City of Elko, Nevada.
  5. Employees Need a Work Card Permit, Westmoreland Gazette, 2007-01-19, retrieved 2009-07-30
  6. Lahane, "The Union Work Permit," Political Science Quarterly, September 1951.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign worker</span> Person working in a country where they do not have citizenship

Foreign workers or guest workers are people who work in a country other than one of which they are a citizen. Some foreign workers use a guest worker program in a country with more preferred job prospects than in their home country. Guest workers are often either sent or invited to work outside their home country or have acquired a job before leaving their home country, whereas migrant workers often leave their home country without a specific job in prospect.

The H-1B is a visa in the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 101(a)(15)(H), that allows U.S. employers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. A specialty occupation requires the application of specialized knowledge and a bachelor's degree or the equivalent of work experience. The duration of stay is three years, extendable to six years, after which the visa holder can reapply. Laws limit the number of H-1B visas that are issued each year. There exist congressionally mandated caps limiting the number of H-1B visas that can be issued each fiscal year, which is 65,000 visas, and an additional 20,000 set aside for those graduating with master’s degrees or higher from a U.S. college or university. An employer must sponsor individuals for the visa. USCIS estimates there are 583,420 foreign nationals on H-1B visas as of September 30, 2019. The number of issued H-1B visas have quadrupled since the first year these visas were issued in 1991. There were 206,002 initial and continuing H-1B visas issued in 2022.

An open shop is a place of employment at which one is not required to join or financially support a union as a condition of hiring or continued employment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Permanent residency</span> Status of a person in a country

Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with such legal status is known as a permanent resident. In the United States, such a person is referred to as a green card holder but more formally as a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR).

This article gives detailed information on the employment situation in Hong Kong.

An L-1 visa is a visa document used to enter the United States for the purpose of work in L-1 status. It is a non-immigrant visa, and is valid for a relatively short amount of time, from three months to five years, based on a reciprocity schedule. With extensions, the maximum stay is seven years.

TN status is a special non-immigrant classification of foreign nationals in the United States, which offers expedited work authorization to a citizen of Canada or a national of Mexico. It was created as a result of provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement that mandated simplified entry and employment permission for certain professionals from each of the three NAFTA member states in the other member states. The provisions of NAFTA relevant to TN status were then carried over almost verbatim to the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement that replaced NAFTA in 2020.

Labor certification is an immigration process step in the United States of America. Its stated goal is to "protect U.S. workers and the U.S. labor market by ensuring that foreign workers seeking immigrant visa classifications are not displacing equally qualified U.S. workers".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transportation Worker Identification Credential</span> Identification card

The Transportation Worker Identification Credential program is a Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Coast Guard initiative in the United States. The TWIC program provides a tamper-resistant biometric credential to maritime workers requiring unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities, outer continental shelf facilities, certain manufacturing facilities, and vessels regulated under the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, or MTSA, and all U.S. Coast Guard credentialed merchant mariners. As of May 2014, there were 2,999,058 people enrolled in the program. Those seeking unescorted access to secure areas aboard affected vessels, and all Coast Guard credentialed merchant mariners, must obtain a TWIC. The new measures were fully implemented on April 15, 2009. To obtain a TWIC, an individual must provide biographic and biometric information such as fingerprints, sit for a digital photograph and successfully pass a security threat assessment conducted by TSA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Form I-9</span> United States employment eligibility verification form

Form I-9, officially the Employment Eligibility Verification, is a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services form. Mandated by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, it is used to verify the identity and legal authorization to work of all paid employees in the United States. All U.S. employers must ensure proper completion of Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travel document</span> Identity document issued by a government or international entity

A travel document is an identity document issued by a government or international entity pursuant to international agreements to enable individuals to clear border control measures. Travel documents usually assure other governments that the bearer may return to the issuing country, and are often issued in booklet form to allow other governments to place visas as well as entry and exit stamps into them.

Card check, also called majority sign-up, is a method for employees to organize into a labor union in which a majority of employees in a bargaining unit sign authorization forms, or "cards", stating they wish to be represented by the union. Since the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) became law in 1935, card check has been an alternative to the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) election process. Card check and election are both overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. The difference is that with card sign-up, employees sign authorization cards stating they want a union, the cards are submitted to the NLRB and if more than 50% of the employees submitted cards, the NLRB requires the employer to recognize the union. The NLRA election process is an additional step with the NLRB conducting a secret ballot election after authorization cards are submitted. In both cases the employer never sees the authorization cards or any information that would disclose how individual employees voted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norwegian passport</span> Passport of the Kingdom of Norway issued to Norwegian citizens

A Norwegian passport is the passport issued to nationals of Norway for the purpose of international travel. Beside serving as proof of Norwegian citizenship, they facilitate the process of securing assistance from Norwegian consular officials abroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E-Verify</span> Website for businesses to determine eligibility of applicants to work in the United States

E-Verify is a United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) website that allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees, both U.S. and foreign citizens, to work in the United States. The site was originally established in 1996 as the Basic Pilot Program to prevent companies from hiring people who had violated immigration laws and entered the United States illegally. In August 2007, DHS started requiring all federal contractors and vendors to use E-Verify. The Internet-based program is free and maintained by the United States government. While federal law does not mandate use of E-Verify for non-federal employees, some states have mandated use of E-Verify or similar programs, while others have discouraged the program.

A work permit or work visa is the permission to take a job within a foreign country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B visa</span> Visitor visa for the United States

A B visa is one of a category of non-immigrant visas issued by the United States government to foreign nationals seeking entry for a temporary period. The two types of B visa are the B-1 visa, issued to those seeking entry for business purposes, and the B-2 visa, issued to those seeking entry for tourism or other non-business purposes. In practice, the two visa categories are usually combined and issued as a "B-1/B-2 visa" valid for a temporary visit for either business or pleasure, or a combination of the two. Nationals of certain countries do not usually need to obtain a visa for these purposes.

The UK Work Permit scheme was an immigration category used to encourage skilled workers to enter the United Kingdom (UK) until November 2008, when it was replaced by the points-based immigration system. It provided an opportunity for overseas citizens seeking to gain valuable international work experience in the UK and was often used to enable UK employers to transfer key personnel to the UK from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kafala system</span> System used to monitor migrant laborers in Arab countries

The kafala system is a system used to monitor migrant laborers, working primarily in the construction and domestic sectors in Gulf Cooperation Council member states and a few neighboring countries, namely Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013</span>

The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 was a proposed immigration reform bill introduced by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) in the United States Senate. The bill was co-sponsored by the other seven members of the "Gang of Eight", a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators who wrote and negotiated the bill. It was introduced in the Senate on April 16, 2013, during the 113th United States Congress.

The American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act (ACWIA) was an act passed by the government of the United States on October 21, 1998, pertaining to high-skilled immigration to the United States, particularly immigration through the H-1B visa, and helping improving the capabilities of the domestic workforce in the United States to reduce the need for foreign labor.

References