THE ABCS OF E-VERIFY

Suddenly employers have a powerful new incentive to use E-Verify given the shortage of H-1B visas that force many F-1 students to leave the country upon conclusion of their training programs. F-1 students who work for employers using E-Verify will get 29 months of training instead of just 12. This means two extra chances at the H-1B lottery and more time to get green card applications processed as a method of potentially bypassing the H-1B process all together or at least minimizing the gap in time someone may need to spend abroad.

I've just finished the manuscript for a book I've written on employer compliance and have included a chapter on E-Verify. Because the interest in E-Verify will likely spike as a result of this rule, I've decided to publish the E-Verify chapter online now rather than wait. So here goes. Also, some of you may not know that I blog on employer compliance (including the E-Verify subject) at http://immcomp.blogspot.com.

Download everify_q_a.pdf

Comments

[Amit Srivastava]

Hi, I have a question. If I am currently on 12 months OPT, working for a company and wish to apply for an extension, does my employer have to be enrolled in E-verify program? Because in E-verify, you can't verify existing employees. You can only verify new employees. My employer is not enrolled and I am confused.

[Ali]

"Corporations that employ skilled immigrants are not the same as those who employ unskilled immigrants (and in many cases illegal immigrants)."

Something like 40 percent of illegal aliens are estimated to have entered the US legally, then to have overstayed the visa. So, Everify may well help to identify that population. For example, there's the case of the illegal alien who had a $100,000 a year job working for the state of California.

[Al;i]

What do you want to bet that employers will take on as many OPT employees as they can get, severely increasing the number of workers competing for H1-Bs? Somewhat like we have far too many H1-Bs competing for 140,000 green cards each year. The OPT flies under the radar. It's not a program the public is familiar with and this increase is being sneaked through with rule making. But that many OPTs is likely to drive down wages and job opportunities for H1-Bs and make it even harder to justify the "shortage" claim to get the cap raised. You can expect that when the 29 months are up, and 170,000 H1-Bs are issued, the remaining OPTs will find themselves out of jobs and status. (There were what, 200,000 H1-B petitions the first day this year? That's easily 30,000 OPTs who'll be on their way home having been used and abused by their employer.)

[WD]

Company using E-verify has to use it for all new hires and not just OPTs. This would require a change in HR policy (for hiring) by many companies.

E-verify has 4%-5% error in its records. Unless these errors are fixed by US (it will be a miracle!), there are chances that some US citizens may get denied jobs due to E-verify errors. Some of them may decide to sue the employer for firing them for no fault of theirs. It would also be hard for employer to justify it's position, as E-verify isn't mandatory as per law!

It's interesting to see how many companies will take the risks to hire a few OPTs.

[AD]

more time to get green card applications processed as a method of potentially bypassing the H-1B process all together or at least minimizing the gap in time someone may need to spend abroad.

You are talking about non retrogressed country/category students being able to file for 485 as soon as they get the job and get 29 months OPT and then roll on to EAD if they dont get the GC approved in 24 months what so ever. Forget about Students from India/China I would say, unless you are EB1.

[George Chell]

Corporations that employ skilled immigrants are not the same as those who employ unskilled immigrants (and in many cases illegal immigrants). So, even as the interest in E-Verify increases for corporations such as Intel or Microsoft, it will do nothing to raise interest among farmers, ranchers. restaurant owners and others who employ unskilled and most likely illegal aliens.