Today, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminded federal contractors and subcontractors of the new regulations going into effect on September 8, 2009. The announcement (dated September 1, 2009) explains that the E-Verify federal contractor rule extends use of the E-Verify system to covered federal contractors and subcontractors, including those who receive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.  Under the rule, applicable federal contracts awarded or amended on or after September 8 must include a clause committing government contractors to use E-Verify.

The notice also provides the latest E-Verify enrollment statistics: “More than 145,000 participating employers at nearly 550,000 worksites nationwide currently use E-Verify to electronically verify their workers’ employment eligibility. Since Oct. 1, 2008, more than 7.6 million employment verification queries have been run through the system and approximately 97 percent of all queries are now automatically confirmed as work-authorized within 24 hours or less.”