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Notice for Illinois Employers about E-Verify December 31, 2007

From The Press Room

E-Verify

E-Verify (formerly the Basic Pilot/Employment Eligibility Verification Program) is an online system operated jointly by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration (SSA). Participating employers can check the work status of new hires online by comparing information from an employee's I-9 form against SSA and Department of Homeland Security databases. More than 69,000 employers are enrolled in the program, with over 4 million queries run so far in fiscal year 2008.

E-Verify is free and voluntary, and is the best means available for determining employment eligibility of new hires and the validity of their Social Security numbers.

For Employers

E-Verify is a voluntary program for all employers, with very limited exceptions. Companies can access E-Verify online and compare an employee's Form I-9 information with over 444 million records in the SSA database, and more than 60 million records in Department of Homeland Security immigration databases. E-Verify is an essential tool for employers committed to maintaining a legal workforce, and the number of registered employers is growing by over 1,000 per week.

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For Federal Contract Employers

As of June 9, 2008, President George W. Bush has amended Executive Order 12989. This now directs all federal departments and agencies to require contractors, as a condition of each future federal contract, to agree to use an electronic system to verify workers' employment eligibility. In response to this Executive Order, Secretary Michael Chertoff designated E-Verify as the system of choice.

On June 12, 2008, agencies responsible for federal acquisition regulations (FAR) sent a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to the Federal Register soliciting public comment on proposed changes to these regulations. Comments will be accepted for 60 days. For more information for federal contractors, please see USCIS.

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This page was last reviewed/modified on September 15, 2008.