Author: New York Immigration Lawyer Alena Shautsova
I- 9 compliance I-9 is the form that should be filled by everyone who accepts employment in the United States. It is used by US government to determine if employers comply with prohibition on hiring people without work authorization. The form has to be filled out by the employee no later than the first day of employment; it is also has to be completed by the employer, no later than the third day of employment.
There is also something called E-verify: it is an electronic program which allows employers to confirm if an employee is allowed to work in the US. While it is not the electronic I-9, it does call for a lot of similar information. There are companies that must participate in E-verify, and there are companies and organizations that choose to do so. In any event, form I-9 still must be completed.
What is the importance of I-9 form? An employee should be aware that if he or she lies on the form regarding his or her Immigration status, it can be used by the DHS later: for example, an employee in hope to get a job may check off “citizen of the US” as a filed for employment eligibility. This conduct actually triggers permanently inadmissibility into the US, as somebody who claims to be a US citizen while he is not, cannot get legal in the US.
For employers: form I-9 compliance is being checked recently more and more often. The fines for violations of the form are thousands of dollars for one violation and also may cause charges of document fraud and discrimination.
The USCIS has pretty helpful resources on the topic: http://blog.uscis.gov/2014/04/whats-form-i-9-e-verify-who-new-videos.html
In addition, you may use our website page to learn I-9 and E- verify basics: http://www.shautsova.com/immigration-usa/i-9-uscis-forms.html