Jul 9 2010

USCIS Posts Notice Clarifying Three-Day Rule for Employee Eligibility Verification for New Hires

USCIS recently reminded U.S. employers that they have just three days after their new employees’ dates of hire to open a case in E-Verify. In addition, this rule also applies to the completion of essential portions of the I-9 form. Section 2 of the I-9 form should also be completed within this time period. It should be noted, for clarification, that the three-day period is, in fact, four total days, as stated in a USCIS posting. For example, if an employee is hired on a Monday, these deadlines must be reached by the Thursday of that same week. The date of hire (in this case, Monday) is not counted in the three-day period.

However, there has been some question as to whether ICE will interpret the three-day rule in the same way that USCIS has stated. While ICE has informed the public that they will honor the USCIS interpretation of the three-day rule (the fourth day after a hire), ICE has not published any official notice stating this understanding and has, instead, only forwarded the USCIS posting to their field agents.