On November 18, 2013 Alejandro
Mayorkas, Director of U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services (USCIS), announced an enhancement to the E-Verify
program that will help combat identity fraud.
The enhancement will identify and deter fraudulent use of Social
Security numbers (SSNs) for employment eligibility verification. As stated in the press release, “This enhancement
provides a critical safeguard to the E-Verify system by detecting and
preventing potential fraudulent use of SSNs to gain work authorization.” Employers may be entering information into
E-Verify that appears valid, such as a matching date of birth, name and SSN,
but was in fact stolen, borrowed or purchased from another individual. This new safeguard enables USCIS to lock a
SSN that appears to have been misused by an individual, protecting it from
further potential misuse in E-Verify.
Furthermore, the enhancement
strengthens the E-Verify program by implementing standards that have been
proven effective in protecting individual identity, as exemplified by credit
card companies locking credit cards that appear to have been stolen. USCIS now has the ability to lock SSNs
entered into the E-Verify system that appear to have been used fraudulently by
using a combination of algorithms, detection reports and analysis to identify
patterns of fraudulent SSN use and proceed to lock the number in E-Verify.
What
happens when a Social Security Number is locked?
If an employee attempts to use a
locked SSN, E-Verify will generate a “Tentative Nonconfirmation” (TNC) and the
employee receiving the TNC will have the opportunity to contest the finding at
a local Social Security Administration
(SSA) field office. If the employee
contests the TNC and the SSA field office confirms the employee’s identity
correctly matches the SSN, the TNC result will automatically be updated to an
“Employment Authorized” status in E-Verify.
Director Mayorkas was quoted
saying, “We are committed to strengthening E-Verify’s ability to combat
identity fraud” and continued with saying “This new enhancement provides yet
another significant safeguard for E-Verify users and could assist employees who
have had their Social Security numbers stolen or compromised.”
To find out more about E-Verify, please
contact us directly at 1.866.359.4949
with any questions.