My wife moved here last year on a K-1 Visa and currently has her EAD while awaiting her green card which has been delayed even further than normal due to Covid-19 office closures.
She's a data scientist and has had numerous interested recruiters call her only to ask if she has a green card. When she states she has an EAD and IS awaiting her Green Card they say that's not sufficient and end the conversation. Is this legal? Seems like discrimination and is extremely frustrating for the both of us.
My wife had the same experience during our green card process when she was on an EAD and a company said they couldn't proceed until she got her green card. Now, I don't think it was on purpose. The person she was talking to was young and, while most Americans know what a green card is, probably very few know what EAD is so they'll just default to the safe answer.
Your wife should probably answer with "I have legal work authorization in the US" and leave it at that. Really, this is what the recruiters should be asking as well, not whether or not she has a green card.
It's borderline/barely legal. A company can base a decision not to hire on uncertainty or cost. But there's really no uncertainty and no cost here. So I would challenge the recruiters on this.
She's a data scientist and has had numerous interested recruiters call her only to ask if she has a green card. When she states she has an EAD and IS awaiting her Green Card they say that's not sufficient and end the conversation. Is this legal? Seems like discrimination and is extremely frustrating for the both of us.