Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas today announced the expansion of the E-Verify program’s capabilities to include U.S. passport photo matching. This will further enhance the integrity of the program by enabling E-Verify to automatically check the validity and authenticity of all U.S. passports and passport cards presented for employment verification checks.
For the 10 percent of the prospective employees who provide U.S. passports or U.S. passport cards as proof of their identity, E-Verify will now scan the passport photo to determine if it matches the photo on record. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced on Nov. 10. “Including U.S. passport photo matching in E-Verify will enhance our ability to detect counterfeit documents and combat fraud.”
The photo screening tool which was first introduced in 1997 has increased the effectiveness of E-verify in identifying undocumented workers but was restricted to foreign nationals presenting green cards or work authorization documents. The new photo matching would include US nationals as well and enable employers to verify the identity of new employees who present a U.S passport or passport card by comparing that data with State Department records.
EMPTrust can help you with your I-9 and E-Verification process. EMPTrust’s software application allows companies to manage I-9 forms and seamlessly integrate with employment eligibility verification (E-Verify) all at one go.
