Gutierrez

Unemployment Insurance Code section 1253, subdivision (c) disqualifies an applicant from receiving unemployment benefits for any period during which she is not able or available to work. (Further statutory references to sections of an undesignated code are to the Unemployment Insurance Code.) In this appeal we conclude an undocumented alien who does not have work authorization from the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is not available to work within the meaning of section 1253, subdivision (c). The Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (Board) denied benefits on this basis, and the trial court denied mandamus relief. We shall affirm.

Plaintiff is a Mexican citizen who entered the United States in 1978 without inspection as a “[visitor without visa.” Having stayed beyond her authorized period, plaintiff became subject to deportation. In 1980, she received a voluntary INS departure order setting a departure date of May 15, 1981, later extended to February 15, 1982. She also received INS work authorization which expired in March 1982.

Plaintiff continued to reside in the United States beyond her voluntary departure date, working as a seasonal farm…