E-Verify+ Transforms Employment Eligibility Verification

E-Verify+ is a new tool that streamlines the employment eligibility verification process for employers and new hires, an analyst for US Citizenship and Immigration Services said May 14.

E-Verify+ combines aspects of the current E-Verify service with Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, creating a new method of employment eligibility verification that is almost entirely electronic, said Michelle Martin Vivian, a management and program analyst for USCIS. Employers using the service can create cases through their E-Verify account for new hires, and employees will receive an email containing a link to electronically complete Form I-9.

“It will be more efficient for your company, saving you time in the process,” Vivian said at PayrollOrg’s 43rd Payroll Congress in Kissimmee, Florida. “It reduces your time burden by having your new employees enter their own data online and notifying them directly of any of those tentative nonconfirmations or mismatches.”

In the event that an employee’s supporting Form I-9 documents result in a tentative nonconfirmation or mismatch, E-Verify + will notify the employee, and the employer will see the employee’s online case status changed to “Needs More Time,” she said.

It is the employee’s choice whether to take action and address the issue, Vivian added. If the employee chooses to take action, the employee will have eight federal working days to contact the Department of Homeland Security or visit a Social Security office to rectify the matter. If the issue is not resolved, the employer may receive a “Final Nonconfirmation” case result in E-Verify+, which means that the system cannot confirm the employee’s employment eligibility status. At that point, the employer can terminate the employee without being subject to civil or criminal liabilities, she said.

“Remember, that tentative nonconfirmation or mismatch is rare and can happen to anyone. Most of them are the result of data entry or typos,” Vivian said. “Most employers only see about 1% of their cases result in a mismatch.”

If an employee successfully completes Form I-9 online and includes proper supporting documentation, E-Verify+ notifies the employer that the form is ready for review, she said. The employer or its authorized agent must review the employee’s Form I-9 documents in real time to make sure they reasonably appear genuine and relate to the employee. The document review process can either be done in person or remotely through live video.

Assuming the documents and Form I-9 pass muster, the employer can electronically sign the form, Vivian said. E-Verify+ will create a PDF version of the form and supporting documents, which the employer must download and maintain in accordance with Form I-9 recordkeeping requirements.

Although E-Verify+ reduces the amount of time and effort an employer needs to verify the employment eligibility of new hires, it contains some limitations. Currently, E-Verify+ is only available for “employer access” companies, which are those that access E-Verify solely through a web browser, she said. Employees may also choose to opt out of using E-Verify+, in which case the employer must use the traditional E-Verify process.

Employers must have an E-Verify account to access E-Verify+, and only the employer’s program administrator for the account can enable E-Verify+, Vivian said. An employer’s program administrator can add additional program administrators to the employer’s account, and Vivian recommends that employers have at least one additional administrator as backup.