The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a notice in the Federal Register on Thursday, August 3, requesting public comments on the proposed pilot program to allow certain employers who are not enrolled in E-Verify to use a similar procedure to the alternative remote verification process for qualifying E-Verify employers introduced on August 1, 2023.
Comments are encouraged and will be accepted until October 2, 2023.
About the Pilot
Per the DHS proposal, the pilot would be limited to companies not currently enrolled in the E-Verify program and with a workforce of fewer than 500 employees. Companies interested in participating in the pilot must apply. The proposed application draft is available for public comment.
For the proposed pilot, like the alternative remote I-9 verification process, if an employer chooses to offer the alternative procedure to some employees at an E-Verify hiring site, they must do so consistently for all employees at that site.
Additionally, like the alternative remote I-9 verification process, the process for the proposed pilot would include:
- Employers can remotely verify their new employees’ documents over a live video interaction to verify that the worker’s documents appear genuine.
- The employer must examine the identification documents within three days of the worker’s start date and check a box on the revised I-9 form that indicates the remote process was used.
- However, on the Form I-9, the employer would indicate “Initial Pilot” in the “Additional Information” field (Section 2) and check the alternative procedure box.
Erickson Insights
Erickson Immigration Group will continue monitoring developments and sharing updates as more news is available. Please contact your employer or EIG attorney if you have questions about anything we’re reporting above or case-specific questions.