Articles Posted in E-Verify

In an effort to reduce the amount of Tentative Non-confirmations (TNCs) being issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), the Service has teamed up with the Department of State (DOS) and has incorporated DOS passport data into the E-Verify employment authorization program.

Before this joint effort, foreign born citizens were receiving far more mismatches (otherwise known as tentative non-confirmations) than U.S. born citizens. Those who received TNCs had to physically visit a Social Security Administration (SSA) office in order to attempt to resolve the issue. Before this enhancement, receiving a mismatch was a scary and tiresome burden to overcome.

However, now, if the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the SSA is unable to immediately confirm a citizen’s work eligibility, the USCIS can check DOS passport records prior to issuing a TNC. Accordingly, if citizenship information provided on Form I-9 matches those records, E-Verify will then confirm the individual’s work authorization. Additionally, for those foreign born U.S. citizens who receive TNCs, they may now sort the issue out over the telephone with the USCIS rather than physically entering a SSA office.

Effective February 20, 2009, ALL federal contractors and subcontractors will be required to begin using the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) E-Verify system. This program allows for employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their employees.

This new rule which is addressed in Executive Order 12989 reinforces the policy that the federal government does business with companies that have a legal workforce.

Specifically, this rule requires federal contractors to agree, through language inserted into their federal contracts, to use E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all persons hired during a contract term.

In my previous blog entry, I informed you of the E-Verify program instituted by the Federal Government. The Federal Government is requiring all of its contractors to utilize this system for employment verification of their employees. Even though this is a positive first step in ensuring that employers comply with legal hiring practices, the E-Verify system does have its drawbacks.

All participating employers are required to enter personal information from Form I-9 into the government database in order to submit a query to verify a new hire’s employment eligibility. All employers who sign up with E-Verify must manually enter this key information into the government database and wait for a response that will take approximately three (3) to five (5) seconds. Although this may seem like a simple task, there is a great chance for human error. If an employer enters the wrong data into the query, and in return receives a TNC or a mismatch, the employee is required to fix the problem, either in person or over the telephone with either the SSA or USCIS, to confirm their work authorization. This TNC or mismatch turns into a headache for the employee as well as the employer. Accordingly, there is a strong possibility that people that are legally authorized to work in the U.S. may be denied because of simple human data error.

Additionally, as with any Internet based computer programs, there is a possibility that the “system” could go down due to receiving too many queries at one time, or due to minor computer system glitches. However, the USCIS claims that E-Verify has the capacity to handle up to 60 million queries per year, and promises that it will continue to work to update the current pilot architecture to handle more queries if needed.