It’s been a big week on the immigration front . . .

Settling a rather long-standing debate, Homeland Security announced that all federal contractors will be required to use the E-Verify system. It also announced that it will drop the Bush Administration’s controversial “no-match” proposal.

What is E-Verify?

E-Verify is an electronic employment eligibility verification system designed to deter employers from hiring illegal immigrants.

We use the system here at Manpower and find it to be a solid system. Others, however, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have challenged the system’s accuracy. According to Homeland Security, more than 96% of employees who submit identity information through the system were immediately verified as eligible for employment.

What was the No-match Proposal?

The “no-match” proposal would have required employers to terminate employees whose social security information failed to match Social Security Administration records. The proposal never went into effect due to challenges in federal court filed by various business and immigrant advocates.

When does the E-Verify change go into effect?

Currently, E-Verify is voluntary. The new regulations will make it mandatory for federal contractors and will go into effect September 8.

Will E-Verify soon be mandatory for all employers?

Some in Congress appear to be pushing for that very thing. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), head of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, is calling for a system to verify the employment eligibility of all employees.

Stay tuned to see how this plays out. Click here for more on E-Verify and No-Match and here and here for other recent immigration news.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 8:27 am and is filed under E-Verify, Employment Law News, Immigration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.