On the immigrant stuff, my wife is currently in the process. We looked into all possible options, she came from Brazil. The unfortunate news is, yeah you really need someone to sponsor your coming over on a VISA.
Which, for construction sounds like it could be a challenge. She is a Tattoo Artist by profession, and building enough 'credentials' for her to come for 'art' purposes, was a no-go, and a Tattoo Shop willing to submit all the paperwork and proof of all the things employers would have to do, including proving that they tried to fill the position using local US talent, was just never going to happen. So we had her come on a Fiance VISA. We didn't want to just 'assume' that was the only way, but it definitely ended up being the only reasonable way.