Employers need to be aware of and deal appropriately with two recent developments in Washington DC.  First, the Obama administration in one day notified 652 employers that the government would be auditing their I-9 forms.  In addition, the politicians, despite serious defects in the Social Security database, are proposing that all employees who are the subject of a Social Security No-Match letter be fired if they can not correct the issue.

We wish to provide you with some preventive measures designed to help you avoid the serious consequences of these recent government actions.

::: Most important, retain experienced immigration legal counsel to do an informal audit of your company’s I-9 forms BEFORE the government knocks on your door.  Many issues and errors can be spotted and remedied by this approach.
::: Big mistake to have your I-9’s signed on behalf of the company by employees that have not received proper training and do not have authorization.  This will pretty much guarantee mistakes and is not a good practice.
::: Read and use the USCIS Handbook for Employers for I-9 compliance.  This is one of the tools that we as attorneys use in advising our clients.  We provide the link below.
::: Special attention needs to be focused on Sections 1 and 2 of the I-9 form.  While Section 1 is filled out by your employee, the employer suffers the consequences (fines, etc.) if not done properly.  Section 2 involves the documents that must be submitted by the employee and viewed by the employer regarding identification and employment authorization.    It is best to make copies of documents recorded in Section 2.  Practice shows that copies of these documents are the best way to prove that the I-9 Administrator actually reviewed them and that they meet the reasonable “good faith effort” standard.  Discrimination issues arise if not done properly.
::: Separate I-9 forms from personnel files. Keep terminated employee I-9 forms in a separate binder for the required time and purge when the time has expired.
::: Develop a reminder system to update the I-9 if the employee has submitted temporary employment authorization.

By simply following these simple suggestions, the serious consequences of I-9 audits can be avoided.

1. I-9 Form
2. USCIS Employer Handbook
3. E-Verify

DHS announced today that it supports the FAR E-Verify regulation for federal contractors to enroll in E-Verify as of 9/8/09.  This means that most federal contractors and subcontractors will be required to enroll in E-Verify.  Secretary Napolitano also announced DHS’ intention to rescind the Social Security No-Match regulation that would have sent “no-match” letters to 140,000 US employers.  The notices would have warned companies to resolve discrepancies or fire workers within 90 days or face criminal charges.

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News on Canadian Immigration, I-9s, Employer Compliance, H-1Bs and more.  Subscribe to our free newsletter and stay informed concerning the immigration issues of the day.

We link to our July news.

Senator Schumer issues a game plan that he thinks will get a CIR bill passed.

We link to the ILW.com article.

The Immigratiion Policy Center HAS issued an excellent “primer” on Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR).  We link to this for your reference and information.

Immigrants, labor unions, business, religious groups, and civil rights organizations continued full steam ahead today at the national immigration Campaign Summit in Washington, D.C., to push Congress for comprehensive immigration reform. According to Summit organizers, the newly re-energized groups managed to send more than 100,000 faxes calling for comprehensive reform to Congress in the last 48 hours-in addition to a full day of lobby visits on Capitol Hill.

This week several organizations will launch a campaign to Reform Immigratin FOR America in cities across the country – from LA to Miami. Today a large coalition of allies from business to community groups, will officially kick off this campaign in Washington, DC.  We link to the Notice from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA):

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/6764009/AILA

Politico reports that President Obama has invited members of Congress from both sides of the aisle to discuss immigration reform at the White House on June 8th.  An unnamed administration official stated, “The meeting will be an opportunity to launch a policy conversation that we hope will be able to start a debate that will take place in Congress later in the year.”

We link to

AILA has recently published an excellent Powerpoint on why the system is broken.

We link to

Senators Menendez (D-NJ), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), introduced legislation to re-emphasize family unity in the US immigration system so that legal immigrants might reunite with their families and end decade long waiting times for legal immigrant visas.

The legislation would reinforce the historical emphasis on current wait times in the family immigration system by:

• Helping an estimated 322,000 spouses and children under the age of 21 of lawful permanent residents who are waiting in line to reunite with their families by reclassifying them as immediate relatives
• Addressing the decades-long backlogs for certain countries by raising the per-country immigration limits from 7% to 10% of total admissions
• Protecting widows, widowers and orphans by allowing them to continue to wait in line for a visa after the death of the sponsoring relative
• Utilizing an estimated 400,000 family-sponsored and employment-based visas that went unused between 1992 and 2007
• Respecting the contribution of Filipino World War II veterans by reducing their children’s wait times for an immigrant visa
• Promoting family unity by allowing more people who are already eligible for an immigrant visa to efficiently use our legal family immigration system
• Providing equal treatment for stepchildren and biological children by allowing stepchildren under the age of 21 to immigrate upon their parents’ marriage (current age is 18)

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