this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 145 points 1 year ago (6 children)

This was definitely a trigger for me.

A few years ago, I had some great email exchanges about a position. I was an experienced dev, and I knew what they were looking for. But to make it official, I had to go through their HR person.

This was the first time I was going to talk to someone from the company, live in a video call.

And the moment we jumped on a call, her first words were, "Do you have a green card?"

I was born here. One look at my skin color and that was her question.

[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 year ago

So, you don't? /s

[–] RamblingPanda 43 points 1 year ago (1 children)

CAN YOU UNDERSTAND ME? YOU ENGLISH? gestures wildly

[–] TheKMAP 11 points 1 year ago (5 children)

It's a valid question. Not every job has Visa sponsorship. They ask white people too.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago

It's not a valid question at all. "Are you legally able to work in the United States" has been a question on literally every single job application I've ever filled out. There's zero valid reasons for the interviewer to not know the answer already, and even less than zero valid reasons for them to phrase the question the way they did.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago

It’s not only not a valid question, it might not even be a legal question.

I’m a hiring manager for a very large tech company in California. I cannot ask any questions about age, ethnicity, country of origin, citizenship status, veteran status, marital status, health, and so on.

HR can ask if they’re eligible to work in the US, and I can ask whether they have the skills and talents I need for the position, but it’s tightly limited.

It still crops up all the time. There are decades worth of studies showing how having a non-white looking name or having age indicators present in work history or graduation dates influence reviewers to reject applications they’d otherwise accept.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

Yeah, but they always ask about "citizenship or ability to legally work in the US" on applications. If it was a white person, they wouldn't have said anything. If the candidate were white, and they answered "no" on the form, they would've just not been moved forward in the hiring process. They wouldn't have gotten to that point and still been asked.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I mean you're getting g downvoted, but I'm painfully white and in the UK. Every job interview either the first or second question I get asked is "do you have the right to work in the UK?" Or "do you need a visa to work in the UK?"

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's very different than automatically assuming you aren't a citizen of the UK and asking if you have permanent residence.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's very different than automatically assuming you aren't a citizen of the UK and

That's actually exactly what asking me if I need a visa to work in the UK means.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No, that leaves open the possibility that you are a UK citizen. "Do you have green card?" skips over asking if you are a citizen and goes straight to "Are you at least a permanent resident?"

Put another way, if the candidate answers "No." to "Do you have a green card?" That doesn't tell the recruiter if they need a visa or if they have the right to work in the US without a presumption that they aren't a citizen.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So you're saying it would be perfectly acceptable and neither you nor OP would complain if the question was: "Do you need a greencard?"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's kind of a weird question, too. Like, what does it mean if you say no? That you are a citizen or that you don't intend to become a permanent resident?

"Do you need a visa?" Or "Are you legally allowed to work in the United States?" would be the way it would generally be asked and isn't a problem. See all the comments that replied to the person saying it wasn't a big deal.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

You can’t ask that question because immigration status is a protected class. It’s up to the candidate to provide appropriate documentation at the time of hire

[–] user1234 7 points 1 year ago

But why aren't potatos friends?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

No worries. I've seen plenty of job postings for POC LGBTQWTF "STRONGLY URGED TO APPLY." You should be fine.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Fucking troglodyte

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I have never encountered a posting like that, but I'd be interested to see an example of it if you have one. Happen to have a link to one?

Edit: So that's a no then. That's a... problematic thing to make up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

I used to work in HR. In my first week, the HR Manager walked around with me on the floor of our factory. We had a lot of Vietnamese employees. She wanted me to start learning people's names, but the first time we encountered a Viet person she whispered to me "hey, between you and me, I can't really tell them apart since they all look similar and have similar names, so if you can't remember them then it's no biggie". Like what??? Ma'am you are the HR manager.