E-Verify Fact Sheet
- E-Verify is an Internet-based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA) that allows Employer Agents to electronically verify the employment eligibility of newly hired employees. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) administers the program.
- On June 6, 2008, the President issued Executive Order 13465 "Economy and Efficiency in Government Procurement through
Compliance with Certain Immigration and Nationality Act Provisions and the Use of an Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification
System," providing that "Executive departments and agencies that enter into contracts shall require, as a condition of each contract,
that the contractor agree to use an electronic employment eligibility verification system designated by the Secretary of Homeland
Security to verify the employment of: (i) all persons hired during the contract term by the contractor to perform employment duties
within the United States; and (ii) all persons assigned by the contractor to perform work within the United States on the federal
contract." The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) was therefore amended to require federal contractors to use E-Verify, which
is the system designated to implement the Executive Order. This requirement goes into effect September 8, 2009.
- Safe and secure to use, E-Verify is the best means available for determining the employment eligibility of new hires and the
validity of their Social Security Numbers. E-Verify runs authorization checks on all newly hired employees, including U.S. citizens
and non-U.S. citizens, against SSA and DHS databases (about 449 million, and 60 million records respectively).
- USCIS launched a photo screening tool enhancement to E-Verify on Sept. 17, 2007. The tool checks the photos on Employment
Authorization Documents (EAD) or Permanent Resident Cards (green cards) against images stored in USCIS databases. The goal of the
photo tool is to detect and deter identify fraud by determining whether the document presented is the same document issued by USCIS
e.g., that it is not a forgery involving photo-substitution).
- For FY2009 to date, more than 2 million employment verification queries have been run. During FY2008, approximately 6.6 million
employment verification queries were run (as compared to a total of 3.27 million in all of FY2007). The Department of Homeland
Security's FY2009 appropriation legislation, signed into law on Sept. 30, 2008, provided $100 million to continue, expand and
improve E-Verify in FY2009.
- A recent study conducted by Westat, a social science research firm which monitors the effect of various changes made to the
E-Verify program, found between April and June 2008:
- Approximately 96.1 percent of all cases queried through E-Verify were instantly found to be employment authorized
- About 99.6 percent of all work-authorized employees verified through E-Verify are verified without receiving a tentative
non-confirmation or having to take any type of corrective action
- Erroneous tentative non-confirmations (those that were work-authorized but who received a non-confirmation) have improved
from 0.5% to 0.4%. Ultimately, these mismatches are successfully resolved; and
- Of all queries received, final non-confirmations (meaning not work-authorized) are 3.5 percent; down from 5.3 percent.
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