Foreign worker facts for kids
Foreign workers or guest workers are people who work in a country that is not their home country. They often move to find better job opportunities. Sometimes, they are invited or sent to work in another country. Other times, they find a job before they leave their home. This is different from migrant workers, who often leave their country without a specific job waiting for them.
Millions of people around the world are foreign workers. In 2018, about 28 million foreign-born workers were in the United States. Many of them came from Mexico. This number includes about 4 or 5 million undocumented workers. It is thought that about 5 million foreign workers live in northwestern Europe. Around half a million are in Japan, and about 5 million are in Saudi Arabia. In the first half of 2019, 2.4 million foreigners arrived to work in Russia. Many of these workers also bring their families with them.
Sometimes, foreign workers move from former colonies to the country that used to rule them, like people moving from a former French colony to France. When many people from one area move to another, it can create a community of guest workers. This is sometimes called chain migration.
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Foreign Workers in the United States
The United States offers different types of visas for people who want to work there. These visas allow foreign workers to come and work legally.
Types of Work Visas
- The H-1B visa is for skilled workers in special jobs, like scientists or engineers. These workers usually stay for a short time.
- The H-2A visa is for people who do temporary farm work.
In 2019, over one million undocumented immigrants worked in farming in the United States. About 250,000 workers came legally using the H-2A visa for farm work.
Green Card Workers
Some foreign workers want to live and work in the United States permanently. They can apply for a Green Card. A Green Card means they have legal permanent residence. The United States also has a special program called the Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery. Each year, this program allows up to 50,000 immigrant visas to be given out. It helps people from countries that don't usually send many immigrants to the U.S. get a chance to live and work there.
Foreign Workers in the European Union
In 2016, about 7.14% of all workers in the European Union (EU) were not citizens of that country. This means about 15.8 million people.
- About 3.61% (8.1 million people) were from another EU country.
- About 3.53% (7.7 million people) were from a country outside the EU.
Some countries had a higher number of foreign workers. For example, in Germany and the United Kingdom, more than 0.9% of workers were from non-EU countries. In Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany, more than 0.5% of workers were from other EU countries.
See also
In Spanish: Trabajador extranjero para niños
- Immigration
- Labor shortage
- Global mobility
