State Dept. Strengthens Foreign Domestic Servant Visa Guidelines

The US Department of State has issued non-immigrant visas to the personal attendants, servants, and maids of certain diplomatic and non-governmental staff members under G-5, A-3 and NATO-7 visa categories for many years. Guidelines for the sponsoring staff members were very broad, and subject to interpretation by the various sponsoring organizations.

The State Department recently provided additional clarification and recommendations to sponsoring organizations, and implemented protections for the G-5, A-3 and NATO-7 domestic staff, in part as a result of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (WWTVPRA). The State Department also noted that:

The Secretary of State shall suspend, for such period as the Secretary determines necessary, the issuance of A-3 visas or G-5 visas to applicants seeking to work for officials of a diplomatic mission or an international organization, if the Secretary determines that there is credible evidence that one or more employees of such mission or international organization have abused or exploited one or more nonimmigrants holding an A-3 visa or a G-5 visa, and that the diplomatic mission or international organization tolerated such actions.

The State Department considers the issuance of these visas as a privlege to the diplomatic and non-governmental organization staff members, and is determined that the domestic servant be treated humanely and that the domestic servant by properly compensated for their services.
The new guidance offered to the sponsoring organizations includes:

1. The domestic servant and the sponsoring employer must have a written employment contract that defines the terms and conditions of employment, and such employment must conform to all applicable Federal and State law, including taxation and the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
2. The domestic servant is to be compensated for every hour on duty at no less than the prevailing wage as determined by the US Department of Labor.
3. The sponsoring employer MUST pay the domestic servant on either a weekly or bi-weekly basis, and MUST pay via check or electronic funds transfer to a bank account owned only by the domestic servant.
4. Deductions for room and board are strongly discouraged, may be no more than "reasonable", and must be detailed in the employment contract if applicable, and the consular staff is given the discretion to deny the visa application if, in their judgment, "the remaining wage available to the employee is insufficient to provide a reasonable incentive to continue in the A-3, G-5, or NATO-7 employment." (9 FAM 41.21)
5. The sponsoring employer MUST provide the domestic servant with a medical insurance policy and cover all reasonable medical expenses, and the sponsoring employer MAY NOT deduct the cost of the medical insurance policy or medical expenses from the domestic servant's payroll.

Sponsoring organizations are highly incentivized to monitor and insure the compliance of all staff members with these clarified rules and guidance, as a failure to do so may result in the termination of the visa program for the entire organization.

Two large organizations in the Washington DC area, the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, have for many years actively articulated standards and guidance to their staff sponsoring the domestic servants, and have enforced their standards via annual audits of the sponsoring staff member's wage and hour and payroll tax compliance. The World Bank Group audits 100% of its staff members, and requires that all staff members sponsoring a foreign domestic servant maintain accurate, contemporaneous time cards and payroll tax compliance documentation. The new State Department Guidance is largely modeled on the programs currently in place at the World Bank and IMF.

You can learn more about the rights of the G-5 and A-3 domestic servants and the responsibilities of the sponsoring diplomat or NGO staff member at the 4nannytaxes.com website.