The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has just released 3 video shorts about that beloved form, the I-9, and e-Verify. If you’re not using e-Verify to affirm the employment eligibility of your candidates, you’re missing out on a great, free resource. (And in some states, you might inadvertently be breaking the law.)
Video #1, Employment Verification
In this short, we watch a manager and newly-hired employee review a completed I-9 form. After reviewing the document, the employee provides the 2 forms of ID required. The manager explains e-Verify to the employee and goes off to enter her data in the system.
He returns with bad news: her information doesn’t match the info the Social Security Administration has on her! The SSA has returned a “tentative non-confirmation” (TNC) on her, probably due to her recent marriage and the whole maiden-name kerfuffle.
Will she not get the job because of that TNC? Will she have to stop the job training she’s already begun? Will she contest the TNC result? And if so… how?
To learn what happens, watch the Employment Verification video.
Video #2, Revised Form I-9, Section 2 Changes
This short lacks the dramatic narrative of Employment Verification; it’s more of a documentary about how the I-9 form has changed in the past year. Among those changes are fields for the employee’s phone number and email address, plus the option of filling out the form as a PDF online.
Section 2, we learn, has undergone some changes, and a general review of the section is in order. Section 2 must be completed by the employer (or employer’s authorized representative) no later than 3 business days after the employee begins work for pay. If an employee starts work on a Monday, Section 2 has to be completed by the end of the day on Thursday. If they start work on a Thursday, the employer has until Tuesday to complete the section.
The central mystery of Section 2 concerns the form(s) of identification an employee must provide for the employer to fill out the section. Why would someone need up to 4 forms of ID? How could someone get away with only 1 form of ID?
The answers to these questions lie in the Revised Form I-9, Section 2 Changes video.
Video #3, Revised Form I-9, Section 3 Changes
Finally, the theme of this trilogy becomes clear: each video corresponds to the respective section of the I-9 form. (Employment Verification covers Section 1, which is filled out by the employee.) At last, we learn about how employers can enter I-9 information for rehires, reverification of employment authorization and name changes, such as that of the first video’s hapless employee.
Reverification is a tricky subject, with many rules regarding who can and cannot be reverified, and which documents can and can’t be used for reverification purposes. Similarly, the version of the I-9 that can be used for reverification is dependent on a few rules as well.
When may you use the old I-9 form, if ever? When must you use the new I-9 form? What crucial step must you not overlook in filling out Section 3?
You will only know the answers if you watch the Revised Form I-9, Section 3 Changes video.
Of course, you could just get the Handbook for Employers about the I-9, if you’re more of a reader than a viewer. But if not, pop some corn in the office microwave (be careful not to burn it!) and sit back for 15 minutes of pure employment education.