E-Verify & I-9 News

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas announced the final expansion of E-Verify Self Check at a press conference in Orlando on Thursday, Feb. 9. The announcement marks the expansion of the program to all 50 states, including Washington, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (Read the USCIS Press Release here).

Developed in response to a request by Congress to create a service through which U.S. workers could check their own employment eligibility status outside of the employer focused E-Verify process, Self Check can help take the mystery out of the E-Verify employment eligibility confirmation process. After the user enters a small amount of information, the Self Check service will check that information against various government databases to determine the user’s eligibility to work in the United States.  Self Check will then return one of three results: Work Authorization Confirmed, Possible Mismatch with SSA, or Possible Mismatch with Immigration Information. If any mismatches are found between the information provided to Self-Check and the governments records, the system provides instructions on what steps to take to try to resolve the issue.

Employers are warned not to use Self-Check to pre-screen the employment eligibility of new hires. If an employer or potential employer asks to see a Self-Check query to prove work authorization, individuals are instructed to notify the Department of Justice, Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices at 800-255-7688. Also, a positive Self-Check result does not guarantee that individuals will pass through E-Verify without issue at a later date. Self Check has the potential to benefit employees and employers by reducing the number of data mismatches during the E-Verify process  and thereby decrease the amount of time spent resolving those mismatches.  The Self-Check tool is available at www.uscis.gov/selfcheck.

Self Check’s initial launch in March 2011 was limited to a number of participating states to ensure that USCIS could provide an accurate and efficient service. Last fall, USCIS added an additional 16 states and also offered a Spanish version of Self Check.

Disclaimer: The content of this post does not constitute direct legal advice and is designed for informational purposes only. Information provided through this website should never replace the need for involving informed counsel on your employment and immigration issues.

To learn more about how I-9 Compliance Software can help you comply with Form I-9 and E-Verify requirements, click here.

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Previously available only in five test states (AZ, CO, ID, MS and VA) and the District of Columbia, the E-Verify Self-Check on­­line system that allows job-seekers to check their own work eligibility has now been expanded to 16 additional states, CA, LA, ME, MD, MA, MN, MO, NE, NV, NJ, NY, OH, SC, TX, UT and WA.

The Self Check service is a free, Internet-based application that can be used by a U.S. worker over the age of 16 to confirm his or her employment eligibility. It is currently available in only these 21 states while it is evaluated and improved. Self Check is now available in Spanish and is expected to be available nationwide by March 2012.

Developed in response to a request by Congress to create a service through which U.S. workers could check their own employment eligibility status outside of the employer focused E-Verify process, Self Check can help take the mystery out of the employment eligibility confirmation process. After the user enters a small amount of information, the Self Check service will check that information against various government databases to determine the user’s eligibility to work in the United States.  Self Check will then return one of three results: Work Authorization Confirmed, Possible Mismatch with SSA, or Possible Mismatch with Immigration Information. If any mismatches are found between the information provided to Self-Check and the governments records, the system provides instructions on what steps to take to try to resolve the issue.

Employers are warned not to use Self-Check to pre-screen the employment eligibility of new hires. If an employer or potential employer asks to see a Self-Check query to prove work authorization, individuals are instructed to notify the Department of Justice, Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices at 800-255-7688. Also, a positive Self-Check result does not guarantee that individuals will pass through E-Verify without issue at a later date. Self Check has the potential to benefit employees and employers by reducing the number of data mismatches during the E-Verify process  and thereby decrease the amount of time spent resolving those mismatches.  The Self-Check tool is available at www.uscis.gov/selfcheck.

Disclaimer: The content of this post does not constitute direct legal advice and is designed for informational purposes only. Information provided through this website should never replace the need for involving informed counsel on your employment and immigration issues.

To learn more about how I-9 Compliance Software can help you comply with Form I-9 and E-Verify requirements, click here.

Share this with your network:

A free E-Verify Self-Check feature that allows individuals over the age of 16 to confirm the accuracy of their U.S. employment eligibility will go live on March 21, 2011 in selected states.  The E-Verify Self-Check (Self-Check) phase one roll-out will be available to individuals who currently maintain residency in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Mississippi and Virginia, or the District of Columbia.  As initial testing and system improvements are made, it is expected that USCIS will expand Self-Check to other states, and eventually be available nationwide.

If the new feature works as expected, individuals will be able to use Self-Check in much the same way as employers use E-Verify, except that individuals will need to take extra steps to verify their own identity. After entering certain biographical information, an independent third party service is used to complete the identity verification process, and if successful, the user is redirected to Self Check to enter additional information in order to complete the employment eligibility check. Self Check will then return one of three results: Work Authorization Confirmed, Possible Mismatch with SSA, or Possible Mismatch with Immigration Information.

If any mismatches are found between the information provided to Self-Check and the governments records, the system will provide instructions on how resolve the issue. Below is a diagram of Self-Check workflow process (click on the image to enlarge).

Employers are warned not to use Self-Check to pre-screen the employment eligibility of new hires. If an employer or potential employer asks to see a Self-Check query to prove work authorization, individuals are instructed to notify the Department of Justice, Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices at 800-255-7688. Also, a positive Self-Check result does not guarantee that individuals will pass through E-Verify without issue at a later date.

If you are interested in learning more about the Self-Check process, USCIS has posted an E-Verify Self-Check Interactive Preview on its website.