E-Verify Enhancements Planned for 2010
USCIS recently added passport data to E-Verify, and in 2010, they plan to add Student and Exchange Visitors Information System (SEVIS) data that would help verify international students and exchange visitors.
By incorporating SEVIS nonimmigrant student visa data into the automatic initial E-Verify check, the number of students and exchange visitors who receive initial mismatches should be reduced. In FY2010, ICE will be launching a new version of SEVIS, SEVIS II, which will include employment eligibility information that E-Verify will be able to access electronically.USCIS is also looking to add Temporary Protected Status data as well as update the current data entry system to minimize errors.
-- Acting Deputy Director Michael Aytes
E-Verify will also continue to fight identity theft with an enhancement of its photo screening tool.
USCIS is also working to initiate a state-based department of motor vehicles (DMV) data exchange that would incorporate driver’s license photos into the photo tool. This would represent a significant enhancement to the system, since new hires most often present a driver’s license for Form I-9 purposes. ... USCIS is aware identity fraud is a serious concern in the U.S. and is especially concerned with how this practice affects E-Verify. While USCIS cannot detect all forms of identity fraud used by an employee who is run through E-Verify, we are working to find ways to accomplish this goal.Aytes also said in his testimony that USCIS is looking for ways to validate the legitimacy of employers using the system. And they're working on an electronic I-9 form.
-- Acting Deputy Director Michael Aytes
The first phase of this enhancement includes developing a stand-alone Form I-9 in portable format that will allow employers to electronically create, sign, and store the completed forms. In a future enhancement, the electronic Form I-9 will pre-fill the fields in E-Verify, eliminating the need for employers to input the data into the system after it was already recorded on the Form I-9.An average of 1,000 employers register for E-Verify weekly and more than 3.6 million queries have been run in fiscal year 2009. The current independent evaluation of E-Verify cites that 96.1 percent of all queries result in automatic worker authorizations. The system also received a score of 83 out of 100 on a customer satisfaction survey compared to the federal government's satisfaction index of 69 percent. Of the 3.9 percent of the queries that received a tentative non-confirmation, 0.4 percent gained later confirmation.
-- Acting Deputy Director Michael Aytes
The remaining 3.5 percent of queries that are not found work authorized by the system either did not contest the TNC, were unsuccessful in contesting or were found unauthorized to work at the secondary verification stage.For more on the Aytes' testimony, see the USCIS website.
-- Acting Deputy Director Michael Aytes