Supporting Statement Appendix B (30-day notice public comments and USCIS response)

Supporting Statement Appendix B
30-Day Notice Public Comment & USCIS Response

Comment ID: USCIS-2010-0014-0029

URL: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=USCIS-2010-0014-0029

Tracking Number: 1jy-8an4-c9fn

Comment:

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed new E-Verify Self Service Portal 1615-0117

Our concern is that many employees will not be able to complete the E-verify information without much handholding or assistance, negating any benefit to the company.

It also brings up questions, such as:

What if the employee provides different information for the I-9 form and for the self service E-verify portal?

Will the E-verify self service portal be offered in multiple languages?

A self service employment verification portal seems unnecessary and in fact may actually cause more of a burden to an employer.

USCIS Response:

Thank you for your comment.  USCIS’ experience with E-Verify Self-Check indicates that individuals are generally capable of verifying their own employment status without employer handholding or assistance.  USCIS is designing myE-Verify (which encompasses both myE-Verify accounts and Self Check) to similarly facilitate individual use of the portal without requiring employer support.

With respect to using different documents in myE-Verify and the Form I-9 process, as long as the documents are unexpired and establish employment authorization, and the employer also enters a valid identity document into E-Verify, the query should receive the same response from both Self Check and E-Verify.  The E-Verify result received by the employer after entering the document numbers provided by the employee on a Form I-9 into E-Verify is the employment verification result the employer would use for employment authorization purposes.

At initial release the myE-Verify portal will only be available in English, but USCIS is considering options for releasing it in other languages in the future.

The myE-Verify service is intended to improve E-Verify by providing individuals with an opportunity to check and correct employment authorization information maintained by DHS and SSA in their databases before applying for work, and to protect that information against misuse in E-Verify.  Use of myE-Verify should increase the reliability of information entered into and accessed by E-Verify and thereby decrease the overall burden to E-Verify employers.

Comment ID: USCIS-2010-0014-0030
URL: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=USCIS-2010-0014-0030

Tracking Number: 1jy-8b5r-d77l
Summary of comment and USCIS Response:

One commenter suggested that USCIS improve its knowledge-based authentication process by including more multidimensional and dynamic data sources, leading to more varied questions for authentication.  USCIS appreciates this comment and assures the commenter that while Self Check and myE-Verify currently adhere to established government standards for identity assurance, USCIS is continually studying ways to improve its knowledge-based authentication processes.  The existing knowledge-based authentication process for Self Check does use multiple dimensional and dynamic data sources, with questions generated based on current and past data, and with new sources regularly added to ensure data recency.

The same commenter suggested that USCIS ensure that contracts with any outside vendors limit the use of information obtained from myE-Verify and Self Check to that which is required in the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  USCIS is committed to protecting the privacy of myE-Verify and Self Check information, and has established protections and routine uses for that information as described in the programs’ Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) and System of Records Notice (SORN).  The myE-Verify identity assurance contracts with third party data providers will permit the use of collected information only in limited ways, such as for fraud monitoring and prevention, and as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act and other applicable laws.