In this short video, FordMurray attorney Michael Murray discusses the legal implication of employing a foreign worker who is charged with a crime. For any questions or concerns with business immigration law, contact our attorneys today.

If I sponsor an employee’s visa application and they commit a crime, what will happen?

Transcript of Video:

The answer is no. The company is not responsible for crimes committed individually and separately by the foreign national worker. This is assuming that the company had known, that the company had any involvement in the crime, which is almost always going to be the case. If that’s the case, then really this a problem for the individual, and for the Federal Government, Immigration Customs Enforcement, or Department of Labor to investigate. Also, the local police could get involved depending upon the nature of the crime.

And so it’s kind of a situation that’s very similar to dealing with a US worker, who had some kind of criminal violation. You want to let the government do its job and cooperate as they ask you to cooperate. One big difference will be, in terms of the outcome, potentially that the foreign worker could be removed from the United States, if the crime is of a certain type that triggers that type of removal, that would be an aggravated felony or a crime involving world turpitude.

Once again though, that’s going to be the governments job to work through, and Immigration Enforcement or an Immigration Judge, may get involved to make that determination. It’s the company’s responsibility to cooperate with the government as they ask you to cooperate.