E-Verify Self Check Goes Live on March 18, 2011

by John Fay on February 16, 2011

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published a notice in the Federal Register announcing that the new E-Verify Self Check feature will go into effect on March 18, 2011. As previously reported, the E-Verify Self-Check initiative will enable individuals to check their work authorization status prior to being hired and facilitate correction of errors in the federal databases which E-Verify utilizes. Self Check was developed primarily to address concerns with the current employer-focused E-Verify process, where employees have very limited ability to identify, access or correct information that may ultimately lead to a tentative nonconfirmation (TNC). Self Check promises to provide an easy method for individuals to check their own employment eligibility status outside of the normal E-Verify process, and thereby reduce the likelihood of TNCs.

How will Self-Check work?

E-Verify Self Check will involve two broad steps (with a few others underneath): (1) Identity authentication of the individual and (2) an E-Verify query to confirm the individual’s current work authorization status. Here’s how it will work:

Step 1 – Identity Check

After browsing to the website, the individual will be asked to enter some basic identifying information, including name, address of residence, date of birth, and Social Security number (optional). After the information is entered by the individual, it will be submitted to a 3rd party identity assurance service (IdP) to generate a minimum of 2 “knowledge-basedâ€