WASHINGTON—Last month, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) incorporated Department of State passport data into the E-Verify employment authorization program. This enhancement is already reducing the incidences of mismatches among foreign-born citizens. 

A September 2007 E-Verify program evaluation found that foreign-born citizens were more likely to receive mismatches, known as Tentative Non-confirmations (TNCs), than U.S.-born citizens.  Passport number checking capability for citizens providing a U.S. passport as Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification form) identification improves an already thriving program. 

If the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the Social Security Administration (SSA) is unable to immediately confirm a citizen’s work eligibility, USCIS can now check State Department records prior to issuing a TNC.  If citizenship information provided on the Form I-9 matches those records, E-Verify will seamlessly confirm the individual’s work authorization.  Prior to this enhancement, the system would have issued a TNC, prompting a potentially “authorized” worker to resolve the mismatch issue.   

Passport data inclusion builds upon previous initiatives aimed at reducing TNCs for foreign-born U.S. citizens.  In May 2008, USCIS implemented a system-based and data-source enhancement to address mismatches. This enhancement reduced E-Verify U.S. citizenship-related mismatches (TNCs) by approximately 39% by adding an automated check against USCIS naturalization databases for all newly hired employees claiming U.S. citizenship who were not automatically employment authorized during the SSA check. 

Additionally, foreign-born U.S. citizens who ultimately receive TNCs may now call USCIS directly rather than visiting an SSA office to resolve their cases.  More than 60 percent of foreign-born U.S. citizens who have received a TNC have chosen this option and of those, more than 90 percent have led to a final determination of “work-authorized” over the telephone.