Form I-9 Update for Refugees and Asylees

U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services (“USCIS”) updated its Handbook for Employers M-274, Section 6.3 Refugees and Asylees.  Refugees and asylees are authorized to work in the United States indefinitely because their immigration status does not expire.  They may present any List A document or combination of List B and List C documents from the Form I-9 Lists of Acceptable Documents to demonstrate identity and employment authorization.  Employees may also present an acceptable receipt instead of the List A, B or C document.

More information on completing the I-9 for Refugees and Asylees is available here.

E-Verify Reminder for Tentative Nonconfirmation Cases

USCIS issued a reminder to employers that E-Verify requires all employers to take action on Tentative Nonconfirmation cases (“TNC”) for their employees within 10 federal government working days.  Although most Social Security Administration offices are currently closed, this does not affect the 10-day requirement.  Employers should complete the following steps in E-Verify within 10 federal government working days after issuance of a TNC result:

• Notify your employee of their TNC result as soon as possible within the 10 days.
• Give your employee a copy of the Further Action Notice.
• Review the Further Action Notice with your employee in private and have them confirm whether the information listed at the top is correct.
• If the information is incorrect, close the case and select the statement indicating the information was not correct.  After the case is closed, create a new case for your employee with the correct information.
• If the information is correct, proceed to the next step.
• Tell the employee they must decide whether to take action on the TNC by the 10^th day after TNC is issued.
• If your employee chooses to take action on the TNC, select the appropriate option in E-Verify.  Be sure to provide your employee with their Referral Date Confirmation which provides details on the next step your employee must take.
• If your employee chooses not to take action, select the appropriate option in E-Verify and close the case.
• Please see the E-Verify User Manual for more information on confirming your employee's TNC decision.

If your employee does not give you their decision by the end of the 10th federal government working day after E-Verify issued the TNC, then you close the case.

If your employee no longer works for you or their TNC is a duplicate case, you are still required to close their TNC case in E-Verify.  Employers should not delay closing cases and should close all cases as soon as possible.  Please see the E-Verify User Manual for more information on closing cases in E-Verify.