HISTORY AND MILESTONES

Arizona, Maryland and Wyoming Join RIDE Program

Arizona, Maryland, and Wyoming joined the Records and Information from DMVs for E-Verify (RIDE) program. RIDE helps to reduce document and employment eligibility verification fraud in E-Verify. These states join Wisconsin, North Dakota, Mississippi, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, and Nebraska in this initiative.

Learn more about driver's license verification.

E-Verify Participation Poster Redesigned

E-Verify released a redesigned participation poster. The new poster informs current and prospective employees of their legal rights, responsibilities, and protections in the employment eligibility verification process.

The poster is now available in English and Spanish as one poster. As stated in the E-Verify User Manual, employers must replace their participation posters when updates are provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Employers are still required to display the Immigrant and Employee Rights (IER) Right to Work posters in English and Spanish. To learn more, see the E-Verify Participation Posters webpage.

New Automated Client Enrollment Feature for E-Verify Employer Agents Launched

E-Verify added the ability for clients of E-Verify employer agents to sign their memorandum of understanding (MOU) electronically. This new feature eliminates the need to sign MOUs by hand, which reduces the:

• Time it takes for clients to become “active” in E-Verify; and
• Number of enrollments the E-Verify system rejects.

To learn more about the process E-Verify employer agents must follow when using E-Verify on behalf of their clients, see the updated Supplemental Guide for E-Verify Employer Agents.

Responsive Web Design Launched

We redesigned the look and feel of E-Verify so that the website functioned better on mobile devices and automatically adjusted to any screen size. The case creation screens in the new E-Verify design matched the order of fields on Form I-9, which made for a consistent experience. Also, users could access the full E-Verify website at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of each page.

New E-Verify Self-Service Feature Launched

E-Verify launched a new self-service feature that allows users to unlock their own user ID by answering the same security questions used to create their account. Users were encouraged to contact their program or corporate administrator, or 800-741-5023, for assistance.

Form I-9 Revised

E-Verify published a revised version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. Among the changes in the revised version, Section 1 asks for “other last names used” rather than “other names used,” and the form is simpler for certain foreign nationals to complete.

Other changes include:

• The addition of prompts to ensure information is entered correctly;
• The ability to enter multiple preparers and translators on a supplemental page; and
• A dedicated area for including additional information rather than having to add it in the margins.

For more information, visit I-9 Central.

E-Verify’s 500,000th Employer

More than 500,000 employers were enrolled in E-Verify. FRONTLINE Selling, LLC, of Alpharetta, Georgia, was the 500,000th employer to enroll in E-Verify. Frontline helps clients in the sales industry gain appointments with business prospects.

myE-Verify

USCIS launched myE-Verify, a suite of online services for employees who want to check their own work authorization through Self Check. This new feature manages other tasks related to E-Verify in five states: Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, Mississippi, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Fraud Alert

Verification deployed a process to lock Social Security numbers (SSNs) suspected of fraudulent use in E-Verify. This enhancement helps combat identity fraud by identifying and deterring fraudulent use of SSNs for employment eligibility verification. There is no change to the E-Verify process for employers as a result of this enhancement.

E-Verify Listens

E-Verify Listens, launched, in July 2012, is an online community where stakeholders can share, vote for and comment on ideas related to improving the employment eligibility verification process.

E-Verify Self Check

E-Verify Self-Check (“Self Check”), a voluntary, fast, free and simple service that allows individuals to check their employment eligibility in the United States, launched and expanded to residents of 21 states.

Self Check in Spanish

E-Verify Self-Check (“Self Check”), a voluntary, fast, free and simple service that allows individuals to check their employment eligibility in the United States, launched and expanded to residents of 21 states.

USCIS Launches I-9 Central

USCIS launched I-9 Central, a site dedicated to making guidance for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, more accessible and user-friendly. I-9 Central provides one online location to keep employers and workers up to date with the information needed to properly complete Form I-9.

RIDE Program Launched

E-Verify launched the Records and Information from DMVs for E-Verify (RIDE) program. Developed in conjunction with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, RIDE enabled states to validate the authenticity of driver’s licenses presented as Form I-9 (PDF, 535 KB) identity documents. Mississippi was the first state to make its driver’s license data available to E-Verify. The first states to sign up are as follows:

• Mississippi, 2011
• Florida joins RIDE, 2012
• Idaho and Iowa join RIDE, 2013
• Nebraska, North Dakota and Wisconsin join RIDE, 2015

ICE Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) Signed

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) signed a MOA for the sharing of information between the two agencies. This agreement formalized the coordination and management of referrals between USCIS Verification Division and ICE regarding the misuse, abuse or fraudulent use of E-Verify.

Basic Pilot Program Renamed E-Verify

The Basic Pilot Program was renamed E-Verify. Along with the new name, the program added more features including an automatic flagging system that prompts employers to double-check the data entered into the web interface for those cases that are about to result in a mismatch. This change reduced data entry errors and initial mismatches by approximately 30 percent.

The launch of E-Verify also marked the addition of photo matching. Photo matching is the first step in incorporating biometric data into the web interface. Photo matching was developed for employees presenting a Permanent Resident Card or Employment Authorization Document, and allows the employer to match the photo on an employee's document with the photo in USCIS records.

State workforce agencies were encouraged to use E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of any worker referred to an employer in response to an H-2A job order.

Photo Matching Tool Launched

E-Verify's photo matching is an important part of the employment eligibility verification process. It requires the employer to verify that the photo displayed in E-Verify is identical to the photo on the document that the employee presented for section 2 of Form I-9.

Basic Pilot Program Access Expands to the Internet

The Basic Pilot Program implemented a new Web-based access method to confirm employment eligibility. The new Web-based access method allowed users to access Basic Pilot through any Internet-capable computer. Other features of the Internet version include online enrollment, reporting capability for users, and availability of the web interface 23 hours a day.

Basic Pilot Program Integrates SSA Verification

Employers were able to complete both the SSA and INS portion of the verification case by entering I-9 data into a computer program which transmitted the data to INS and SSA via modem.

Basic Pilot Program Launched

The INS, in conjunction with the Social Security Administration (SSA), implemented the Basic Pilot Program in California, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, New York and Texas. The Basic Pilot Program was voluntary and allowed employers to confirm the work eligibility of their newly hired employees. The Basic Pilot Program used information from the employee's Form I-9 and compared it to the information in INS and SSA records. To verify information with SSA, employers were required to call SSA. Once the SSA information was confirmed by phone, the employer entered I-9 data into a computer program which transmitted the data to INS via a modem connection.

Congress passes IIRIRA

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996 required the then Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)--which became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2003--to conduct three distinct pilot programs: Basic Pilot, the Citizen Attestation Pilot, and the Machine-Readable Document Pilot. These pilots were used to determine the best method of verifying an employee's employment verification.

Reagan signs Immigration Act

President Ronald Reagan signs the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). IRCA of 1986 required employers to examine documentation from each newly hired employee to prove his or her identity and eligibility to work in the United States. This act led to the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, requiring employees to attest to their work eligibility, and employers to certify that the documents presented reasonably appear (on their face) to be genuine and to relate to the individual.