The Employment Eligibility Verification (EEV)/Basic Pilot Program

American Meat InstituteDenver, COApril 4, 2007

USCIS Verification DivisionProvides automated status verification information to Federal, State, and local benefit-issuing agencies and to participating private employers for newly-hired employees.

SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program)• Mandated by Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) • USCIS provides immigration status information to customers and benefit-granting agencies in an automated & timely manner

EEV (Employment Eligibility Verification/Basic Pilot Program)• Mandated by Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA)• Partnership between USCIS and Social Security Administration (SSA)• Provides a means for participating employers to verify the employment eligibility status of newly-hired employees.

EEV Program goals

Reduce unauthorized employment

Minimize verification-related discrimination

Be quick and non-burdensome to employers

Protect civil liberties and employee privacy

Uses the Verification Information System (VIS) to query SSA and DHS databases

Users submit information provided on the Form I-9

EEV: How it Works

Initial Verification will return one of 3 results within 3-5 seconds:

1. Employment Authorized - the employee is authorized to work.

2. SSA Tentative Non-Confirmation - that there is an information mismatch with SSA.

3. DHS Tentative Non-Confirmation - there is an information mismatch with USCIS at the Department of Homeland Security.

EEV: How it Works

Tentative Nonconfirmation

EEV: How it Works

EEV: Case ResolutionIf Employment Authorized, the employer records the system-generated verification number on the Form I-9, or can attach a printout with the verification number to the Form I-9 as a record. If Tentative Non-confirmation, the employee can contest the finding:

SSN mismatches are resolved with SSANon-citizen status mismatches are resolved with DHS

If the employee chooses not to contest, it is considered a Final Non-confirmation and the employer may terminate the employee.Employees continue to work while the case is being resolved.Once the employee solves the discrepancy in his/her records, theemployers logs in to Basic Pilot again and “resolves” (closes) the case.

Employer must post a notice in an area visible to prospective employees that it is a Basic Pilot Participant

Basic Pilot can only be used to verify new hires, and must be initiated within 3 days of employee’s start date

Basic Pilot procedures must be applied to ALL new hires, regardless of citizenship status

Employers cannot use the Basic Pilot to Pre-screen job applicantsScreen existing employeesRe-verify current workers

Employer Responsibilities

EEV Usage Statistics

92% of all queries work authorized instantly

Nearly 2 million queries run in FY 2006

504 work sites in the meat industry

Top Industries Using Basic Pilot:Food Services and Drinking Places (7,300)Administrative and Support Services (6,200)Professional, Scientific, and Technical services (4,700)Other Information Services (3,000)Clothing and Accessories Stores (2,700)

State LegislationStates that have enacted legislation that mandates the use of EEV

GA, CO

States that have their state agencies participate in EEVID, NC, PA, MO

States that have legislation pending that mandates public and private employers to verify new hires using EEV.

TX, FL, KY, AZ, AK, OK, KS, SC, TN, LA, MD, CA (would require public employers)UT, MO, VA, RI (would require all public and private employers)

EEV Improvements

Paperless employer registration

Reducing incidence of mismatches

Developing a marketing plan to recruit employers

Developing monitoring & compliance functions

Photo screening tool to reduce document fraud

Photo Screening Tool Pilot Program OverviewThe photo screening tool will be used in a small scale pilot program that began on March 10 and will run for 3 months.

48 employers in 549 hiring sites are participating in the pilot program and use this functionality as part of their hiring process.

During this pilot program, we will elicit feedback from users and look at usage statistics to refine the functionality

The photo screening tool functionality will then be offered to all users of the Basic Pilot/EEV in June 2007 as a mandatory tool to screen employees.

How does Photo Screening Change an Employer’s Responsibility?

Employers are required to use photo screening when a new hire presents a DHS-issued “Permanent Residence Card” or “Employment Authorization Card” as his/her I-9 documentation.

Employers will be required to make photocopies of the new hire’s PRC or EAD cards

Employers will also be required to keep these photocopies on file with the Form I-9

It will be the employer’s responsibility to determine whether the photocopy of the new hire’s documents exactly match the photo supplied by the EEV when the system is queried.

Photograph Verification

Photograph Matched

Photograph Did Not Match

Contact Information

Katherine Lotspeich, Chief, Outreach and Education, Verification Division, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration ServicesKatherine.Lotspeich@dhs.gov

Michael Mayhew, Management and Program Analyst, Verification Division, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration ServicesMichael.Mayhew@dhs.gov

Basic Pilot Employer Registration Site: https://www.vis-dhs.com/employerregistration