USCIS Announces E-Verify Employee Rights Initiatives
On March 17, USCIS Director Ali Mayorkas announced new civil rights initiatives tied to E-Verify, our program that allows employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of newly hired employees. E-Verify is currently used by over 192,000 employers at 707,000 worksites and is growing by more than 1,000 employers a week.
The initiatives include:
- Videos specially designed for employers and employees available in English and Spanish;
- A dedicated hotline created to respond to employee inquiries also available in English and Spanish; and,
- A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between USCIS and the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division.
- "Understanding E-Verify: Employer Responsibilities and Worker Rights," aimed at employers, explains E-Verify rules, procedures, and policies to employers with an emphasis on safeguarding employee privacy.
- "Know Your Rights: Employee Rights and Responsibilities," is aimed at employees and places special emphasis on the rights of employees, particularly when an employee receives a message from E-Verify indicating a mismatch between the information that the employer entered into the system and the information contained in government databases. (Available in English and Spanish.)
- www.dhs.gov/e-verify
- www.youtube.com/ushomelandsecurity
- You may also request the videos by email: e-verify@dhs.gov (Please include the point of contact, the address to send the videos to, and how many copies you are requesting.)
- General E-Verify information,
- Completing the Form I-9,
- Contesting an E-Verify case, and
- Filing a complaint regarding possible discrimination or employer misuse of the E-Verify program.
Finally, USCIS Director Ali Mayorkas just signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. The MOA establishes the relationship and process for referrals between the USCIS and Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Office of Special Counsel for Unfair Immigration-Related Employment Practices with respect to allegations of discrimination from employer use of E-Verify and information regarding the misuse, abuse or fraudulent use of E-Verify.
I'm excited about the release of the informational videos, the startup of the employee hotline, and the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement. These initiatives showcase our commitment to continuing to improve the E-Verify resources available to both employers and employees and thus help the federal government continue to strengthen the integrity of the E-Verify program. For more information about E-Verify, please visit www.dhs.gov/E-Verify.
Gerri Ratliff, Associate Director
Enterprise Services Directorate
Labels: e-verify
posted by USCIS Blog Team @ 6:30 PM
19 Comments
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19 Comments:
How does this help reduce application processing backlogs...:?
Dear USCIS Director,
I am an EB India applicant.
I would like answers to two questions:
1) How can you expect an EB immigrant to remain in the same job for 6-7 years? We are going to get promotions, but we cannot accept them because of complicated ammendments, new labor needs to be filed, etc. etc.
2) What is stopping USCIS from accepting all 485s, issuing EAD cards, and giving us green cards when visa becomes available.
3) Why cant USCIS just use wasted visa numbers from previous years? You dont need a legislative directive to do that!
Please answer these three specific questions without referring me to the previous "generic" comment.
God bless America.
Thanks,
I do have a couple question but would like to ask couple as of now.Some are similiar as the above mentioned .
1.Why does it take too long to obtaing a family based Green Card for a family member with in US ? Dont you think the proecess and processing time for legal alient resident (people in us) should be different then for the one outside US?
2.Every other dependents get visa easily but why dont a Lawful Permanent Resindent spouse has to be different?It does not make much sence to me.A personal is a lawful resident but still all those long time consuming process to get his spouse where as other (F1 ,H2 ....) depedent get it easily.
Hope to hear soon.
BTW nice to have a common official blog.Thanks for the effort.
I am sure that there are many thousands of people who have played by the rules, who want answers to the above three questions.
I believe in this country, and there is no other place in the world like America!
I have worked and lived in USA for the last 10 years.I do love this country and I feel part of it.I go through the stress of checking the visa bulletin each month waiting to become a legal resident.Why 50,000visas for DV lottery when there are more than 50,000 legal,hard working people already here, speaking perfect English, educating their children in this culture, bulding homes and families in this country waiting for the GC?They all love and understand this culture more than any immigrant brought by DV lottery.
I applaud the help for employers to verify the status of those they wish to hire. Documentation is often not original and employers need all the help they can get to lawfully hire eligible people.
However, USCIS remains an agency with significant problems including case backlogs, lengthy waits for security name checks for certain individuals, inefficient intake and adjudications processes, insufficient workforce training, and antiquated IT systems that present an ongoing challenge to the efficient and timely delivery of immigration services.
It can be difficult for an employer to do everything right when all you have is incomplete or outdated documents. So in my opinion it can only be a good thing if employers as well as employees have access to the best and most recent information.
This whole legal to work issue is a challenge, especially for startup businesses who may not have the knowledge and experience about the subject. Any additional resources to help the small business owner is very helpful.
Why 50,000 visas for DV lottery when there are more than 50,000 legal, hard working people already here, speaking perfect English, educating their children in this culture, bulding homes and families in this country waiting for the GC? They all love and understand this culture more than any immigrant brought by DV lottery.
Scotty
I'm from Australia and I just hope that the government here brings in a system similar to this. it's very hard here to verify if someone here is allowed to be working or not. there are so many people here illegally who are taking up jobs of citizens and at a much lower per hour rate and usually paid to them in cash. i go on some sites and there are people working for about $5 an hour and they are usually the ones who do not have a right to be working here. I applaud this system and I hope my government adopts a similar system as I'm a little sick of whats going on here.
I am sure that there are many thousands of people who have played by the rules, who want answers to the above three questions.
I believe in this country, and there is no other place in the world like it!
Some of the biggest problems with USCIS is that their customer service reps can't resolve any problems that doesn't involve a simple clarification. Give them access to case information so they can answer real problems, empower them please. A simple thing like 'verifying an address was changed' shouldn't be a process that takes more than 5min, but yet it takes over month.
I welcome the idea that emplyers can lawfully verify the status of their employees, as employees quite often are a little lineiant with the truth. Some have falsified experience, fake documents, and the like... (I know this from experience). Employers then, need all the help they can get, in order to ensure that they are hiring canditates who are qualifeid and experienced.
Totally agree with Mark (mark Sutherland). Every employer should really be very cautious when hiring employees. With our advanced technology, it’s quite easy to produce false information and documents. The success of every business or company is based on hard work, proper leadership, team work and trust.
its a great idea everyone should be more cautious in hiring new employees it's very hard to verify if someone is allowed to be working or not.with this new era of technology having this E-verify its good thing for both parties you can just access to the best and most recent information.
The 2 informational videos is exactly what we were looking for. I am sure this issue is something that is growing every day and hopefully E-verify can help with.
While it looks like there's still room for improvement, it's nice to see that the government is finally making an effort to help those business owners who want to play by the rules.
As a small manufacturer, we face these issues every summer when we bring on extra help. Believe me,a persons hard work is still the requirement most small businesses favor regardless of origin or status.
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