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USCIS Announces Enhancements to E-Verify Program While Employers Remain Skeptical |
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by Mira Mdivani
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Thursday, 08 May 2008 |
 On May 5, 2008, in anticipation of a Congressional hearing on the issue, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced “improvements to the E-Verify program.” However, employers and business immigration lawyers remain skeptical because of high error rates and privacy concerns. Background: E-Verify is an on-line employment verification program administered by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.
It allows employers that register for E-Verify to check employment authorization of newly hired employees electronically at www.uscis.gov. Currently, over 64,000 employers participate in E-Verify. USCIS reports that approximately 1,000 new employers enroll weekly. While the program is free and is touted by the federal government as “the solution” to the employers’ I-9 verification dilemma, it has come under fierce criticism for its high error rates and because of privacy concerns. Sources report that E-Verify error rates are over 4% on all inquiries and approximately 9% on naturalized citizens.
What is Happenning: On May 5, 2008, in anticipation of a Congressional hearing on the issue, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced “improvements to the E-Verify program.” USCIS said that the improvements would help with two issues, namely, reduce mismatch rate on naturalized citizens and on newly arrived foreign workers. In discussing the USCIS announcement with several employers today, I can report that they are meeting the announcement with a good measure of skepticism. Employers are still very concerned about the error rates and about exposing themselves to liability for employment discrimination lawsuits. This is of special concern to employers in cases where they could deny employment to an authorized employee based on incorrect information provided by E-Verify. In addition, from a legal standpoint, I am concerned that the federal government is encouraging the use of the system and some states have made it mandatory while E-Verify still does not meet the federally mandated IRCA (Immigration Reform and control Act) standards for accuracy.
For more information, contact Mira Mdivani 913.317.6200.
For additional training, you may attend the I-9 and E-Verify Basic Training.
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