Many employers in the United States must enroll in E-Verify to ensure that the individuals that they are employing are U.S. citizens or are legal immigrants with the proper documents. Many employers aren't familiar with how to use the E-verify system. After enrolling, employers who want to check on a possible employee's status must create a case. This can only happen after the employee has created an Employment Eligibility Verification form (Form I-9.) Employers are required to complete these forms within three days after the employee begins working for compensation. If they fail to do so, they can be penalized by the government. The form will serve as the foundation for the E-Verify case, which must be created no later than three business days after the employee begins working for pay.

E-Verify will ask the employer a series of questions which can be answered by looking at an employee's Form I-9. Some of these questions include the employee's citizenship and name, as well as the worker's date of birth and Social Security Number. Once all needed information is plugged into the system, E-Verify will comb a database to see if the employee has filled out his Form I-9 accurately and honestly. If E-Verify cannot match the information from the form the employer may want to review and correct information. E-verify will then display an initial response within three to five seconds.

If E-Verify returns the response "Employment Authorized," then the worker can continue with the job and close the case. If E-Verify can't confirm an employee's work authorization, then the E-Verify system may say that there is a DHS Verification in Process or a Tentative Nonconfirmation. These may be warning signs that an employee lied about his or her legal status. An employee should double check that he or she did not make any mistakes when plugging in information off of the form.

When final verification is received, the employer can keep an employee who comes up clean, or may have to terminate an employee who lied on his or her Form I-9. If you are an immigrant who has been terminated from your position because of E-Verify, then you may want to challenge the system. Like all computer systems, there is a possibility that a mistake may have been made. Don't hesitate to contact a hardworking immigration attorney near you to back you up as you challenge the E-Verify result in court. Contact a hardworking immigration attorney today to get started.