undocumented workers
Paperless foreign employees
Undocumented workers are people employed in a country without legal authorization to work there—lacking work visas, residency permits, or citizenship.
The term emerged as a neutral alternative to "illegal aliens" or "illegal immigrants," which critics consider dehumanizing.
Undocumented workers make up a significant portion of the agricultural labor force.
The phrase emphasizes employment status rather than immigration status broadly.
- migrantOne who relocates
- unauthorizedNot officially permitted
- aliensBeings from other worlds
- illegalsUnauthorized border crossers
- laborerPhysical task performer
labor exploitation · wage theft · remittances · legal status · visa regulations · employment rights · noncitizens · deportation · border crossing · illegal immigrants · immigration policy · sanctuary city · economic migrants · livelihood · work visas · coyote · economy · under the table
- immigrationimmigrant, immigrants, visa, refugee, citizenship
- migrationmigration, immigrants, refugees, immigration, emigration
- domestic labordomestic servants, domestic service, household staff, housekeepers, maids
- labor migrationlabor migration, work permit, work visa, immigrant labor, labor markets
- migrant labormigrant labor, farmworkers, labor migration, braceros, field hands
- migrant workersbracero, day laborer, labor migration, overseas employment, deployment
undocumented, workers, document, documented, documentation, documents, documenting, worker, worked