On October 9, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that E-Verify operations have resumed. On October 1, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security suspended E-Verify due to the shutdown of the federal government.
Participating employers must create E‑Verify cases by October 14 for each employee hired E-Verify was unavailable. Use the hire date from the employee’s Form I-9 when creating the E-Verify case. The days E‑Verify was unavailable will not count toward the 3 business days employers usually have to create a case.
Employers that could not create an E-Verify case by the third business day after the employee began work for pay because the system was unavailable should select “Other” from the “Select a Reason for Delay” drop-down menu and enter “E-Verify not Available” as the specific reason in the “Reason for Delay” text box.
In addition, the USCIS announcement provides procedures for those affected by the unavailability of E-Verify, including:
To learn more about federal and state laws, regulations, and information to keep your company's payroll operations in compliance, check out Payroll Source Plus!
Curtis E. Tatum, Esq., is Senior Director of Legal and Compliance for PayrollOrg.