In his letter, Eagle explained that because the process of obtaining an employment visa is time consuming and expensive, employers need to know whether an employee will need to be sponsored.  He posed two alternative sets of inquiries by which employers could obtain this information and asked for guidance as to their acceptability.  One alternative was for employers to ask the following questions, asking that the job applicant respond either "yes" or "no" to each:

1.  Are you legally authorized to work in the United States?

2.  Will you now or in the future require sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H-1B visa status)?

The second alternative was for employers to ask two "yes/no" questions followed by a third that requires the applicant to supply more information:

1.  Are you one of the following: U.S. citizen, Lawful Permanent Resident, Temporary Resident, Asylee, Refugee?

2.  If no, are you currently authorized to work in the United States?

3.  If yes, please explain the basis of your employment authorization.

In response, Trasviña recommended that the first set of questions be used.  He explained that "as a general rule, we do not recommend asking applicants to specify their citizenship status in the context of the employment application process because a rejected applicant may rely upon such an inquiry later to allege that the employer considered the information in making the hiring decision, and discriminated based on citizenship status."  He also noted that asking applicants to explain the basis of their employment authorization "may be too vague or confusing to them, and not elicit the necessary information."