Working in America: your right to work hangs on your status, not on a permit

May you work in America? That does not depend on a permit you apply for, but on the status you enter with: there is no counter where you, as a Dutch citizen, pick up "a work permit". The find at the source: the partner of an E-2 holder has been authorised to work since 2022 on the basis of their status alone, while the E-2 holder may only work in their own enterprise. The labour market afterwards is the second surprise: a federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, no statutory holidays and twelve weeks of unpaid family leave. The pitfall is working outside the limits of your status; that puts your stay at risk.

Which status gives which right to work?

The immigration service USCIS distinguishes three routes: temporary work on a nonimmigrant visa, for which an employer usually files a petition for you; permanent work through an employment-based green card; and study or exchange. Within those routes what you may do differs:

Status	Work for whom	What you need
E-2 (investor)	only the activity for which the status was granted, so the own business	the visa itself; stay in increments of at most 2 years, extendable without limit
E-2S (spouse of E-2)	any employer	right to work follows from the status; since 30 January 2022 with its own admission code
H-1B, L-1 (employee)	the employer that filed the petition	the visa; changing employer requires a new petition
Accompanying partner on L-2	any employer	see the article on the L-2
Other categories with work authorisation on application	depends on the category	Employment Authorization Document via Form I-765

The E-2 deserves the emphasis, because it is the Dutch route. The investor may only work in the activity for which the classification was granted. A job on the side, even a small one, falls outside it. Spouse and unmarried children under 21 may come along, whatever their nationality; the spouse is authorised to work on the basis of their status, the children are not.

What is an Employment Authorization Document?

For categories in which the right to work does not follow automatically from the status, you apply with Form I-765 for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD), the work card. After approval the card is produced within two weeks and sent by post; USCIS asks for thirty days' patience before you enquire. A renewal you file up to 180 days before your current card expires. The fee is in the USCIS fee schedule and differs per category; check it on the day you file.

At every hire, also of Americans, the employer completes Form I-9, the verification of identity and right to work. You fill in your part and show documents from the lists that go with the form; your passport with residence documents or your EAD are the usual pieces. Without a Social Security Number you can start work, but salary and tax return ultimately run on that number; how you apply for it is in your first weeks in America. Whoever cannot get an SSN but must file a return uses an ITIN, a nine-digit tax number from the IRS that gives no right to work.

Never work outside the limits of your status. An E-2 holder who works for another company on the side, or an accompanying child who takes a part-time job, breaches the conditions of the stay. That is not a fine but a risk to the visa itself, and with it to the whole family. If you doubt whether something falls within your status, ask before you start.

What does American labour law regulate, and what not?

Less than Dutch law. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour; many states have a higher minimum of their own, and then the higher of the two applies. Holidays, sick days and public holidays are not a statutory right: federal law requires no payment for time not worked, so what you get is in your contract or the staff policy, nowhere else. The only federal leave right is the Family and Medical Leave Act: at most twelve workweeks of unpaid leave per twelve months, for a birth, adoption, your own serious illness or care for a close relative. It applies at employers with fifty or more employees, and only once you have worked there twelve months and made at least 1,250 hours. Your job is then protected, your salary does not continue.

So negotiate holidays, sick pay and health insurance before you sign, because the law fills in nothing; the healthcare story in America is hard.

Does my Dutch diploma count?

For work outside the EU, Nuffic advises asking the ENIC-NARIC of the country, or the ministry of education, whether your profession is protected there. If it is, you ask for permission there before you may practise it; if it is not, you may usually start work without permission and it is up to the employer what your diploma is worth. Nuffic can draw up a diploma description in English explaining which diploma in the destination country yours compares best to; apply for it before departure.

As a self-employed person

Doing business in the US runs for Dutch citizens almost always through the E-2: your own enterprise in which you work yourself, with the restriction that your right to work stops at the door of that business. Freelancing on an employee visa is not possible; that right to work is tied to the employer of the petition. How the routes relate is in the five keys to America, and the place of this step in the journey at /amerika.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 2 of 5 of the journey, step 2.4: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to United States or go straight to step 2.4 in the open plan.