USCIS is announcing its latest customer service enhancement to E-Verify that will allow direct notification to employees. Currently, if there is a record mismatch that needs to be resolved before the employee can be confirmed as work authorized, a Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC) is issued to the employer, who must then contact the affected employee. Now, with this new enhancement, if an employee voluntarily provides his or her email address on the Form I-9, E-Verify will notify the employee of a TNC at the same time it notifies the employer. TNCs occur when information an employer provides to E-Verify about an employee does not match the data found in either U.S. Department of Homeland Security or Social Security Administration records.
This latest enhancement to E-Verify is made possible by a recent revision to Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, used to verify the identity and employment authorization of persons hired for work in the United States. The revised Form I-9 allows employees to voluntarily provide their email address. If a TNC is received, employees who have provided their email address will be directly notified of the TNC by USCIS. Providing an email address is completely voluntary and employers are still required to notify all employees when there is a mismatch of information and a TNC is received.
In addition to providing the initial notice of a TNC, E-Verify will send reminder emails to employees if no action to resolve the TNC has occurred within four days of a decision to contest and to notify them about the possible need to update a Social Security or Department of Homeland Security record.