People in Washington state on non-immigrant work visas will not have to pay a coming payroll tax in July, if they seek a “voluntary” exemption in a timely manner.

WA Cares, a mandated state program accompanied by a tax collection on W-2 wage-earners of 58 cents per $100 of earnings, will eventually provide a chunk of money to some of the Washingtonians who pay the tax and receive long-term-care services. Workers will have to meet the program’s health, residency and vestment criteria in order to qualify for the program’s benefit, which will be available starting in 2026. Find out more about the needed qualifications and benefits here. 

Since non-immigrant workers likely won’t be residents of Washington state when and if they need long-term care, which is one of the requirements for eventual program beneficiaries, lawmakers saw fit to let them out of the payroll tax that will lower their income. Other people who can seek voluntary, conditional exemptions include those who live outside of Washington but work here, spouses or partners of active-duty service members and veterans with a 70% or higher service-connected disability rating. 

To apply for a voluntary exemption, a non-immigrant visa holder will need to fill out a paper or online application and provide proof of identification and supporting documentation of the visa he or she holds. Read more about the required documentation here. 

Employers are encouraged to help workers with the process of protecting their wages. A webinar hosted March 28 by Wafla, an Olympia-based organization that assists growers in bringing H-2A farmworkers to the Pacific Northwest, offered information that employers can use to do so. A spokesman from the Employment Security Department took part in the webinar. 

The takeaways? Including the state’s voluntary exemption application in new-hire paperwork could greatly assist in making sure the paperwork is done in a timely manner, and it could take some guesswork out of the process for workers. And applying for exemptions now, or as soon as a worker is hired, is important. In some cases, workers will have to pay the tax that they will eventually be exempted from because of timelines that have to do with quarterly tax reports from employers. Getting an application in, approved and shown to an employer in a timely manner helps workers avoid the tax entirely. For example, current workers on non-immigrant visas who apply for an exemption before June should get through the state's hoops in time to avoid the tax in July. 

For questions about WA Cares exemptions, visit the WA Cares Fund website or call 833-717-2273 and select option 3. The call center is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.