Bringing in foreign students to work at your business is, in many ways, not very different from hiring an American worker, though this section should help to clear up any questions you have about the process.

The simple answer to the question of finding qualified foreign students to work at your business is that they will come to you. They will find your positions through beachjobz.com, from a friend that has worked for you, or else through a walk-in once they have already arrived in the country.

As you would do with any potential employee, you will want to interview the student to get a sense of what they're capable of. This will give you an opportunity to not only assess what potential positions they can fill, but also how fluently they can speak English.

You will have to provide the student with a letter (typically on company letterhead) guaranteeing them a job and rate of pay, so that they can then provide that letter to their sponsors and the Department of State to prove that they do have a job in this country.

While you do have to guarantee they will have some job at a set level of pay, you don't have to guarantee a specific position before they start. This will give you an opportunity to further assess their language skills and performance level before putting them in a role that requires fluency.

Example: If you own a restaurant and hire an international student, you can start them in the kitchen and see how well they work there. If they demonstrate good social skills and language proficiency, you can move them to a more desirable server position. Conversely, if a student does not have as firm a grasp on the language as you'd thought, or seems to be withdrawn around customers, you can keep them in a position that both you — and they — will be more comfortable with.

There are no set requirements on how long you should wait before moving an employee into a different position; only their comfort level and yours matters. Be aware, however, that like American employees, the international students can leave a business for a different job at any time, so it is wise to allow for advancement opportunities.

Once you have hired the student, you will have to fill out the standard employee I-9 form indicating that the employee is legally eligible to work in the United States, and a W-4 form for an employee's tax withholdings.

As part of their J-1 visa application process, the student should either be applying for or already in possession of a Social Security card that will allow the government to collect taxes on their labor.

If they are in the process of applying for a Social Security number, get as much of the following information as possible: the worker's full name, address, date of birth, place of birth, father's full name, mother's full maiden name, gender and the date he or she applied for a Social Security number.

If their application has not been approved by the time their W-2 wage reports are due, simply check the "Applied For" box on the form. If you are filing your report electronically, the IRS requests that you simply enter all zeroes where their Social Security number would be. Once you have received their Social Security number, you need to file Form W-2c (Corrected Wage and Tax Statement) to show the number. Further instructions on how to file Form W-2c can be found at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw2cw3c.pdf.

You are not required to provide transportation for the student to get to the town or city where your business is located, nor for them to get to work — though you certainly may do either of those things, if you so desire. Typically, the students will have those matters planned out well in advance.