Individuals In Some States Can Now Verify Work Authorization Status Before Seeking Employment Through The New E-Verify Self Check System

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) launched a new E-Verify Self Check system yesterday, allowing individuals who have an address and are physically located in Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, Mississippi, Virginia, or the District of Columbia to verify their work authorization status online for free before seeking or accepting employment.  The Self Check system is planned to expand to 16 states by September 2012 and nationwide soon thereafter, on a rolling basis.  The E-Verify Self Check system checks the individual's information against 455 million Social Security Administration (SSA) records and 80 million DHS records to determine work eligibility.  The individual will be alerted of any mis-matched information and errors and will be given instructions about how to correct these errors, so that inaccuracies will be resolved ahead of time, before seeking or securing employment.  This should decrease the number