United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS)
As of March 18, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has suspended routine in-person services until at least April 1, 2020 to help slow the spread of COVID-19. USCIS staff will continue to perform duties that do not involve contact with the public. This could potentially impact applicants applying for, renewing and replacing the Forms I-551, I-766, I-20 along with other non-emergency needs.
Please visit https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/uscis-response-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19 for more information.
Requirements for Employers Verifying Employment Eligibility on Forms I-9
While DHS understands the concerns related to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), no exceptions are being implemented at this time for in-person verification of identity and employment eligibility documentation for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. When completing a Form I-9, the employer or authorized representative must physically examine, with the employee being physically present, the original document presented to determine if it reasonably appears to be genuine and relates to the employee presenting it. Reviewing or examining documents via webcam is not permissible. The current requirement found at Section 4.0 of M-274 with respect to completion of Section 2 of the Form I-9 says: "Within three business days of the date employment begins, the employee must present to you an original document or documents that show their identity and employment authorization."
E-Verify Impact
Social Security Administration (SSA) -All local Social Security offices were closed to the public for in-person service starting Tuesday, March 17, 2020. The SSA will extend deadlines to provide documentation and other information. Do not come to an SSA office if you received a request from the SSA to contact them by a certain date. Please contact the SSA once offices reopen to the public. Please have employees visit here to locate a phone number to call their local office to determine if an issue is something that can be addressed online or over the phone, while offices are closed.
The SSA will be providing maximum flexibility in applying their good cause policy, which allows SSA to extend the time limits for submitting appeals, and taking other actions during this period.
If an employee needs to update their information with the SSA or request a replacement Social Security Card, these actions can be completed online. Please note that new card requests cannot be processed online if you reside in Alabama, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, West Virginia or any US Territory.
Please visit https://www.ssa.gov/coronavirus/ for more information.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - The DHS Call Center will be remaining open for the time being. Additionally, Truescreen has reached out to E-Verify to see if these changes will push back the referral date for anyone who needs to visit an SSA office. E-Verify stated they are looking into that and will be updating their website soon with information regarding how TNCs will be handled. Please note that E-Verify suggests not taking Adverse Action in relation to TNC/Final non-confirmation cases until further guidance is provided. Once Truescreen has that updated information, it will be communicated to our clients.
Please contact customer service or your account management team with any questions or concerns.
Posted: March 20, 2020