FACT SHEET: E-VERIFY

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ABOUT E-VERIFY

• E-Verify is a free and simple to use Web-based system that electronically verifies the
  employment eligibility of newly hired employees. For more information on E-Verify, visit www.dhs.gov.
• E-Verify is a partnership between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
  oversees the program.
• E-Verify is a re-branding of its predecessor, the Basic Pilot/Employment Eligibility Verification Program, which has been in existence since 1997. The Basic Pilot is being re-branded to highlight key enhancements in the program, including a new photo screening tool that helps employers to detect forged or faked immigration documents.
• E-Verify works by allowing participating employers to electronically compare employee information taken from the Form I-9 (the paper based employee eligibility verification form used for all new hires) against more than 425 million records in the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) database and more than 60 million records in DHS immigration databases. Results are returned within seconds.
• E-verify is the only official U.S. government source that provides employers in the United States with real-time data that takes the subjectivity out of verifying employment eligibility.
• The primary goals of the EEV program are to protect jobs, not lose jobs, for authorized U.S. workers and to ensure a legal workforce in the United States.
• Currently, more than 19,000 employers are enrolled in E-Verify and 1000 new employers are signing up each month. The system is currently capable of handling up to 25 million inquiries a year.
• Through E-Verify, participating employers have successfully matched 92 percent of new hires to DHS and SSA database information. Of the remaining 8 percent that were not matched, less than one percent of those employees contested the result.

E-VERIFY ENHANCEMENTS

PHOTO TOOL

• E-Verify’s new photo screening tool—to be launched by August 31, 2007— will be the beginning of biometric verification within the E-Verify system. This additional feature will be the first step in giving employers the tools they need to detect identify theft in the employment eligibility process.
• The photo tool screening feature will work by allowing an employer to check the photo on their new hire’s Employment Authorization Document (EAD) or Permanent Resident Card (green card) against the 14.8 million images stored in DHS immigration databases.
• The employer will be able to compare identical photos—one from the card presented to the employee to the card image in the USCIS database. The photo screening tool is designed to detect when a photo is superimposed on an authentic immigration identification card or when the document is counterfeit but contains valid information with a different photo.
• The photo screening tool feature was piloted with a subset of E-Verify employers beginning in March 2007 and is scheduled to become a feature for all new and existing users of E-Verify by August 31, 2007.

OTHER ENHANCEMENTS

• The photo screening feature is the answer to detecting some, but not all, forms of identity theft used in the employment eligibility verification process. E-Verify is constantly enhancing and improving its access to real time data by including more DHS databases in its system with the primary goal of driving down the mismatch rate.
• Other key enhancements coming in the future include an option for employers to generate letters for their employees in Spanish and other languages, an E-Verify website that will have a mini-tutorial for employers considering enrolling, web-based resources for employees on their rights and responsibilities, and a marketing and advertising campaign to educate employers on the benefits of E-Verify.