Foreign worker facts for kids
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.
Tens of millions of people around the world operate as foreign workers. As of 2018, according to reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is an estimated 28 million foreign-born workers in the United States, which draws most of its immigrants from Mexico, including 4 or 5 million undocumented workers. It is estimated that around 5 million foreign workers live in northwestern Europe, half a million in Japan, and around 5 million in Saudi Arabia. Between January and June in 2019, 2.4 million foreigners arrived to work in Russia. A comparable number of dependents may accompany international workers.
Some foreign workers migrate from former colonies to a former colonial metropole (France, for example). Chain migration may operate in building guest-worker communities.
United States
The United States issues a number of employment-based immigrant visas. These include the H-1B visa to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations temporarily and the H-2A visa for temporary agricultural work.
Over one million undocumented immigrants work in agriculture in the United States, while roughly 250,000 are admitted under the H-2A visa, as of 2019.
Green card workers are individuals who have requested and received legal permanent residence from the government in the United States and intend to work in the United States permanently. The United States’ Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery program authorises up to 50,000 immigrant visas to be granted each year. This help facilitates foreign nationals with low rates of immigration to the United States a chance to participate in a random drawing for the possibility of obtaining an immigration visa.
European Union
In 2016, around 7.14% (15.885.300 people) of total EU employment were not citizens, 3.61% (8.143.800) were from another EU Member State, 3.53% (7.741.500) were from a non-EU country. Switzerland 0.53%, France 0.65%, Spain 0.88%, Italy 1.08%, United Kingdom 1.46%, Germany 1.81% (until 1990 former territory of the FRG) were countries where more than 0.5% of employees were not citizens. The United Kingdom 0.91%, Germany 0.94% (until 1990 former territory of the FRG) are countries where more than 0.9% of employees were non-EU countries. countries with more than 0.5% employees were from another EU country were Spain 0.54%, United Kingdom 0.55%, Italy 0.72%, Germany (until 1990 former territory of the FRG) 0.87%.
See also
In Spanish: Trabajador extranjero para niños
- Immigration
- Labor shortage
- Global mobility
