E-Verify requires all employers to take action on Tentative Nonconfirmation cases (TNC) for their employees within 10 federal government working days. Although most Social Security Administration offices are currently closed, this does not affect the 10-day requirement. Employers are reminded to complete the following steps in E-Verify within 10 federal government working days after issuance of a TNC result:

• Notify your employee of their TNC result as soon as possible within the 10 days.
• Give your employee a copy of the Further Action Notice.
• Review the Further Action Notice with your employee in private and have them confirm whether the information listed at the top is correct.
  • If the information is incorrect, close the case and select the statement indicating the information was not correct. After the case is closed, create a new case for your employee with the correct information.
  • If the information is correct, proceed to the next step.
• Tell the employee they must decide whether to take action on the TNC by the 10^th day after TNC is issued.
• If your employee chooses to take action on the TNC, select the appropriate option in E-Verify. Be sure to provide your employee with their Referral Date Confirmation which provides details on the next step your employee must take.
• If your employee chooses not to take action, select the appropriate option in E-Verify and close the case.
• Please see the E-Verify User Manual for more information on confirming your employee’s TNC decision.

If your employee does not give you their decision by the end of the 10th federal government working day after E-Verify issued the TNC, then you close the case.

Please note that if your employee no longer works for you or their TNC is a duplicate case, you are still required to close their TNC case in E-Verify. Employers should not delay closing cases and should close all cases as soon as possible. Please see E-Verify User Manual for more information on closing cases in E-Verify.

Please note that if your employee no longer works for you or their TNC is a duplicate case, you are still required to close their TNC case in E-Verify. Employers should not delay closing cases and should close all cases as soon as possible. Please see E-Verify User Manual for more information on closing cases in E-Verify.

For Employees: Your employer may inform you that your E-Verify case received a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and/or Social Security Administration (SSA) Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC) case result. A DHS and/or SSA TNC means that the information your employer entered in E-Verify from your Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, did not match records available to DHS and/or SSA. A DHS and/or SSA TNC case result does not necessarily mean that you are not authorized to work in the United States.

The process description here explains the types of TNC’s and guides you through the resolution process.

For Employers: Employers whose employees receive a TNC must provide them with the further Action Notice from E-Verify and discuss it privately with them. Please review here for the steps in the process.

Government enforcement activities at businesses significantly increased in 2018 and are anticipated to continue in 2019.  The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conducted close to 6,000 audits last year compared to 1,360 audits in 2017. This is consistent with the Trump administration’s focus on immigration enforcement, and it will continue this year.

The whole purpose of the I-9 form is to ensure that you are hiring a legal workforce.  In this article we will unpack Section 3 of the I-9 form, and offer some guidelines that will help you navigate when you must use this part of the form.

Employers must complete Section 3 of the I-9 Form when:

• Your employee’s employment authorization or documentation of employment authorization has expired.
• Your employee is rehired within 3 years of the date that Form I-9 was originally completed.
• Your employee has a legal name change.

When completing Section 3, you must also complete the last name, first name and middle initial fields in the Employee Info from Section 1 area at the top of Section 2.

When your employee’s employment authorization or, in most cases, employment authorization documentation (see below for more information) expires, you must reverify to ensure your employee is still authorized to work. To find out if your employee’s employment authorization expires, look in Section 1 for the date that employment authorization expires and in Section 2 for the date that the employment authorization document expires.

The employment authorization expiration date provided by your employee in Section 1 may not match the document expiration date recorded under List A or List C in Section 2. The earlier date must be used to determine when reverification is necessary.

We suggest that you remind employees, at least 90 days before the date reverification is required, that they will be required to present a List A or List C document (or acceptable receipt) showing continued employment authorization on the date that their employment authorization or documentation whichever is sooner, expires. If your employee has a Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, pending with USCIS, and the application has been pending for 75 days, your employee may call the USCIS Contact Center or schedule an InfoPass appointment at a local office to request expedited processing.

Employers should not reverify:

• U.S. citizens and non-citizen nationals
• Lawful permanent residents who presented a Form I-551, Permanent Resident or Alien Registration Receipt card for Section 2. This includes conditional residents.
• List B documents

Unless reverification does not apply (for the situations stated above), then when your employee’s employment authorization or employment authorization documentation expires your employee must present unexpired documents from either List A or List C showing authorization to work. Receipts for a lost, stolen or damaged document are acceptable for reverification.TEmployers should not reverify:

To complete Section 3, you must:

• Examine the unexpired documents to determine if they appear to be genuine and to relate to your employee. If you feel the document does not reasonably appear to be genuine and relate to your employee, allow your employee to present other documentation from the List of Acceptable Documents.
• Record the document title, document number and expiration date, if any.
• Sign and date Section 3.

If you previously completed Section 3, or if the version of the form you used for a previous verification is no longer valid, you must complete Section 3 of a new Form I-9 using the most current version and attach it to the previously completed Form I-9.

Rehires

If you rehire your employee within 3 years of the date that a previous Form I-9 was completed, you may either complete a new Form I-9 for your employee or complete Section 3 of the previously completed Form I-9.

To complete Section 3 for rehires, you must:

• Confirm that the original Form I-9 relates to your employee.
• Review the original Form I-9 to determine if your employee is still authorized to work, including whether employment authorization documentation presented in Section 2 (List A or List C) has since expired (or have been auto-extended). Use the guidelines to determine if reverification applies.
• If your employee is still authorized to work and his or her employment authorization documentation is still valid, enter the date of the rehire in the space provided in Section 3.
• If your employee is no longer authorized to work or the employment authorization documentation has since expired and requires reverification, request that the employee present an unexpired List A or List C document. Do not reverify an employee’s List B (identity) document. Enter the document information and the date of rehire in the spaces provided in Section 3. If the current version of Form I-9 is different from the previously completed Form I-9, you must complete Section 3 on the current version.
• Sign and date Section 3.

Entering Dates in Section 3

     Section 3 includes three spaces to enter dates:

• If you rehire a former employee: enter the rehire date that your employee begins employment for wages or other remuneration, which can be a future date, if necessary, in Block B.
• If you reverify your employee: enter the date the employee’s new work authorization document expires in Block C.
• When completing Section 3 for any reason: enter the date you complete and sign the attestation.

Recording Changes of Name and Other Identity Information for Current Employees

You are not required to update Form I-9 when your em­ployee has a legal change of name. However, it is recom­mended that you maintain correct information on Forms I-9 and note any name changes in Section 3. Although Form I-9 regulations do not require employees to present documentation to show that they have changed their name, you should take steps to be reasonably assured of your employee’s identity if there has been a legal name change. Such a change may call into question your continued ability to rely on the documents your employee previously presented, as they reasonably relate to the employee. These steps may include asking the employee to provide documentation of a legal change of name to keep with his or her Form I-9, so that your actions are well-documented if the government asks to inspect this employee’s Forms I-9.

You may encounter situations other than a legal change of name where an employee informs you that his or her identity is different from the time Form I-9 was previously completed. If your employee informs you that the name, date of birth, or Social Security number is substantially different from what he or she previously provided on Form I-9, and is unable to provide evidence linking the new information to the identity previously used you should:

• Complete a new Form I-9
• Write the original hire date in “The employee’s first day of employment (MM/DD/YYYY)” space in Section 2; and
• Attach the new Form I-9 to the previously completed Form I-9
• If the Section 1 information has not substantially changed but the employee has offered different evidence of work authorization, then you should examine the documentation to determine if it appears to be genuine and to relate to your employee presenting it. If so, complete Section 3 of the previous Form I-9. If the current version of Form I-9 is different from the previously completed Form I-9, you must complete Section 3 on the current version

For more information:  Handbook for Employers

Online Learning Resources

Contact our office; we are experts in I-9 Consulting and Audits or call 562 612.3996.

On Nov. 14, 2016 USCIS released a revised version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.  Employers may continue using Form I-9 with a revision date of 03/08/2013N  through Jan. 21, 2017.  By Jan. 22, 2017, employers must use the revised form.

Employers should continue to follow existing storage and retention rules for all of their previously completed Forms I-9. Refer here for more information.

Remember to login to our webinar on Wednesday Nov. 16^th, 3pm EST/12pm PST for training on the new I-9 form:  http://www.immigrationcompliancegroup.com/webinars2016/ and save the date for the E-Verify webinar as well on December 15, 2016.

The Department of Justice’s Office of Special Counsel (OSC) and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have issued a six-page joint Guidance for Employers Conducting Internal Form I-9 Audits that can be viewed here:  http://www.justice.gov/crt/file/798276/download

This guidance is a result of a six-month intra-agency initiative to foster greater cooperation across government agencies in the I-9 audit space. The group overseeing this initiative, entitled the Interagency Working Group for the Consistent Enforcement of Federal Labor, Employment and Immigration Laws, is tasked with improving the effectiveness of investigations by ICE and the OSC.

For more

Plain and simple, failing to comply with IRCA’s I-9 rules have, and are continuing at a rapid rate, to result in significant fines, loss of access to government contracts, an onslaught of negative publicity, business closure, criminal penalties and even imprisonment.  Here are a few examples of recently settled cases in August 2015:

1) Creating discriminatory barriers for immigrants who have permission to work in the United States, $165 civil penalty with $50K in back pay:
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-settles-discrimination-claim-against-louisiana-crane-construction

2) Requiring non-U.S. citizens, but not similarly-situated U.S. citizens, to present specific documentary proof of their immigration status to verify their employment eligibility, $200K civil penalty: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-settles-immigration-related-discrimination-claim-against-nebraska-based

3) City of Eugene, OR improperly restricted law enforcement positions to U.S. citizens at the time of hire, even though no law, regulation, executive order or government contract authorized such a restriction. must pay a civil penalty, train its employees about the anti-discrimination provision of the INA and be subject to monitoring by the Justice Department for a period of three years!
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-settles-citizenship-discrimination-claim-against-city-eugene-oregon

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Immigration Compliance Group provides US inbound immigration services to individuals and employers throughout the USA and abroad. We specialize in business immigration and have a depth of experience in the IT, healthcare, arts, entertainment and sports industries, amongst others. Our services include complex business visas for investors, multinational managers, skilled professionals, outstanding individuals of high achievement (O-1, P visas, EB-1 and EB-2 Exceptional Ability cases) and PERM Labor Certification.  We additionally provide employer compliance consulting services on proper I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) management, auditing, training, and work with our clients to develop a culture of immigration compliance. Our door is open for new clients — we extend a 20% discount on the first case with our firm.  Contact us at info@immigationcompliancegroup.com or call 562 612.3996.

We’re starting to intake alot of questions concerning these cards as they now filter through the system to employers charged with handling Form I-9 employment verification.

Twelve states and the District of Columbia enacted laws to allow unauthorized immigrants to obtain a driver’s licenses. These states—California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Vermont and Washington—issue a license if an applicant provides certain documentation, such as a foreign birth certificate, a foreign passport, or a consular card and evidence of current residency in the state. Eight of these states extended driving privileges in 2013. In 2015, Delaware and Hawaii enacted legislation to give unauthorized immigrants driving privileges.

Here are examples of some of the cards with various different annotations.

An employer is required to accept as a list B document an unexpired driver’s license or ID that meets the standard for I-9 purposes.  What’s the standard?  A photo and other identifying information such as, their name, date of birth, gender, height, eye color and address. The underlying issue here is state law vs. immigration (federal law) and USCIS regulations concerning Form I-9.

Both USCIS and OSC concur, despite the various different types of annotations that appear on driver authorization cards, that they meet the regulations for an acceptable List B document if they adhere to the standards mentioned above.

An employer is required to examine the documents presented by its employee and determine whether they meet Form I-9 requirements. If the employer accepts any document, including a state-issued license or driver authorization card, or other type of ID with a limiting notation as a List B document, the employer must also examine a List C document that evidences employment authorization in order to make a proper determination if the individual is eligible for employment.

Employers may reject a document if it does not reasonably appear to be genuine or to relate to the employee. Rejecting a document that satisfies Form I-9 requirements may constitute illegal discrimination under the Immigration and Nationality Act’s anti-discrimination provision or Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

USCIS released details of proposed new changes to the E-Verify program on June 8, 2015 that were published this week.  The notice, found here, proposes several changes to E-Verify and seeks public comments until August 7, 2015 and links to new Q&A.   These changes will affect all employer users, including Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) contractors.

The three critical changes entail:

1)  Requirement that employers re-verify the continuing work authorization of employees within three “Employer” days of the expiration of the employee’s “last” grant of work authorization.

a)  This requirement tracks the current continuing duty of employers to re-verify expiring work authorization of employees in Section 3 of the I-9 form or, in the alternative, to complete a new I-9.

b)  This differs from the I-9 process in that the E-Verify time frame for re-verification of the employment authorization is three days after its expiration, whereby the I-9 regulations state that an employer re-verify the expiring work authorization of an employee on or before the day it expires. In E-Verify, the proposed process cannot be started until after the expiration of the employment authorization.

c)  The re-verification requirement extends to employees hired before an employer began participating in the E-Verify program. Thus, the proposed change would require that employers re-verify an employee’s expiring work authorization regardless of whether they have previously created an E-Verify case for that employee or not. This again differs from the current E-Verify program rules that explicitly prohibit an employer verifying the work authorization of employees hired before the employer began participating in the program (with the exception of FAR E-Verify employers).

2)  Requirement that employers print the re-verification confirmation page and retain it along with an employee’s I-9 records or record the E-Verify re-verification case number on the employee’s I-9 Form.

3)  Provides a process for employees to seek review of E-Verify Final-Nonconfirmations.

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Immigration Compliance Group provides US inbound visa services to individuals and employers throughout the USA and abroad. We specialize in business immigration and have a depth of experience in the IT, healthcare, arts, entertainment and sports industries, amongst others. Our services include complex business visas for investors, multinational managers, skilled professionals, outstanding individuals of high achievement and PERM Labor Certification. We additionally provide employer compliance consulting services on proper I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) management, auditing, training, and work with our clients to develop a culture of immigration compliance.

Since early 2015, qualified California residents have been able to apply for and receive a driver’s license issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles without proving that their presence in the United States is authorized under federal law.  All employers must accept the AB 60 driver’s license as a Form I-9 List B Identity document if the license reasonably appears to be genuine and to relate to the individual.  As with all permissible List B driver’s licenses, the AB 60 driver’s license must contain either a photograph or list the individual’s name, date of birth, gender, height, eye color, and address. The AB 60 driver’s license only documents the employee’s identity; California employers must still examine a List C document that establishes employment authorization, such as a Social Security card or birth certificate.

View the Example of the AB-CA Driver’s License annotated with “Federal Benefits Apply”.