E-Verify, Conrad 30 Waiver, Religious Worker, and EB-5 program extensions

In the final days of the Government's fiscal year, Congress passed Public Law 114-223, Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act. This act was signed on September 29, 2019 by President Obama, keeping the government funded and certain programs in place through December 9, 2016. As part of this law, the Religious Worker, Conrad 30 Waiver, EB-5 Immigrant Investor, and E-Verify programs have been extended until December 9, 2016.  Absent Congressional action, each of these programs would have expired at midnight on September 30, 2016. Congress will likely address longer term extensions for these programs in the next two months as part of the larger funding bills to keep the government funded through the balance of Fiscal Year 2017.  We will bring you additional updates on these programs in future editions of our newsletter.

Changes to E-Verify accounts

Effective August 1, 2016, the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") announced that users of its E-Verify program who have not accessed E-Verify for 270 days or more will begin to see their user IDs deactivated. To avoid deactivation, employers who use E-Verify will want to ensure they log into their E-Verify account regularly - and at a minimum employers should set reminders to log in at least once every 9 months.

E-Verify is a free, internet-based system offered by DHS to allow employers to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the U.S. Since 1986 U.S. law has required employers to verify worker eligibility and to maintain records through the use of form I-9. E-Verify was officially introduced in 2007 after a pilot program that allowed employers to electronically verify worker eligibility in the U.S. The program has grown to over 602,000 participating employers verifying over 13 million employees each year. While E-Verify is an optional program for most employers, it is a required program for certain federal contractors and for any employer who seeks to employ F-1 students during their additional two years of work authorization in the U.S. following graduation as part of the STEM OPT program.

E-Verify is going mobile

On April 27, 2016, the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") announced testing for the new E-Verify Mobile App, encouraging up to 2,000 E-Verify users to test the App on their iPads and report performance time through the Apple TestFlight feedback tool. 

E-Verify is a free, internet-based system offered by DHS to allow employers to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the U.S. Since 1986 U.S. law has required employers to verify worker eligibility and to maintain records through the use of form I-9. E-Verify was officially introduced in 2007 after a pilot program that allowed employers to electronically verify worker eligibility in the U.S.  The program has grown to over 602,000 participating employers verifying over 13 million employees each year.

While E-Verify is an optional program, it is a required program for certain federal contractors and for any employer who seeks to employ F-1 students during their additional two years of work authorization in the U.S. following graduation as part of the STEM OPT program. The E-Verify Mobile App is the next step DHS hopes will attract more users to its program. If your company uses E-Verify and you have an Apple iPad (2nd and 3rd generation only) and want to participate in the test program, email the E-Verify program at MobileE-Verify@uscis.dhs.gov by May 4, 2016.