All U.S. employers must have an I9 Employment Eligibility Form on file for all current employees, with the exception of employees hired prior to November 6, 1986. The purpose of the I9 is to verify employment eligibility for all workers in the United States under Section 274a of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
In 2001, E-verify was created by a partnership between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA), to work in tandem with the paper I9 process. Kenyon is not currently an E-Verify employer and the use of E-Verify is not yet a federal or state requirement. The decision to use E-Verify currently lies with the individual state of which nine have passed legislation requiring its use. Ohio is not one of those states. However, Kenyon is in the process of becoming an E-Verify user.
E-verify electronically verifies the employment eligibility of newly hired employees and current employees on a qualifying federal contract. It is important to note that in an effort to prevent discrimination, E-Verify cannot be used on current employees that are not working on a federal contract. E-Verify does not provide immigration status, cannot be used for prescreening applicants, and cannot be used as a safe harbor from workplace enforcement. E-Verify does ensure a legal workforce, protect jobs for authorized workers, deter document and identity fraud, and work in tandem with the I9. The table below shows the difference in the paper I9 process versus the electronic E-Verify system:
|
I-9 Process |
I-9 process with E-Verify |
|
Employee completes Form I-9, Section I. |
Employee must include Social Security Number when completing Form I-9, Section 1. |
|
Employee chooses which acceptable document(s) to present. |
Employee chooses which acceptable document(s) to present. If a List B document is chosen, it MUST have a photo. This allows the employer to match the photo on file with the DHS. If an employee decides to provide a photo matching document, the employer must make a photo copy and retain with the Form I-9. |
|
Employer completes Form I-9, Section II. |
Employer completes Form I-9, Section II. |
|
If necessary, employer updates or reverifies employee’s work eligibility in Section III. |
E-Verify Case Status will prompt employer to update or reverify in Section III of Form I-9. |
Once entered into the system, E-verify will return one of three results:
Tentative Nonconfirmation:
This indicates that an employee’s I9 does not match government databases. Common reasons for the mismatch include: Social Security Number does not match; an identification document could not be verified; the citizenship or immigration status has changed; a name change was not reported; or information was not entered correctly in E-verify.
In the event of a TNC, the Kenyon E-verify official should print the TNC Notice and review it with the employee promptly and privately. Employees can choose to contest the decision and should be provided the TNC referral letter connecting them with the appropriate agency. Employees also have the right to not contest a TNC in which case Kenyon can terminate the employment and close the case in E-verify.
Requirements:
I9 information for new employees must be entered into the E-verify system no later than three business days after the employee’s start date.
Employers must not: