New state office to help integrate immigrants into ME workforce [Video]

MAINE, USA — Almost 52,000 immigrants currently call Maine home, which is about four percent of the state’s population, according to the American Immigration Council. The council also states immigrants make up about four percent of Maine’s workforce, which has been estimated to lose about 65,000 aging Mainers in this decade through 2030.

The office will help new immigrants integrate into the state’s workforce and identify barriers to support them.

One of the biggest challenges for immigrants and asylum seekers is the paperwork required to work legally. The federal government requires asylum seekers to wait 180 days, or six months, after moving to the U.S. before they can get a work authorization which allows them to work legally.

“It’s extremely frustrating to talk to someone who, you know, they’re passed the mandatory waiting period, and they’re just waiting for their paperwork,” Luke’s Lobster co-founder Ben Conniff …