Sep 28 2007

USCIS Starts New Photo Screening Tool as Part of E-Verify Program

This week, USCIS launched a new photoscreening tool to help employers comply with employee eligibility verification issues and to strengthen employer compliance to employment regulations. This new tool is the first step toward giving employers the ability to detect identity fraud during the employment eligibility process.

The new photoscreening tool is the first enhancement to the E-Verify program, the USCIS’s web-based system that enables program-participating employers to verify electronically the employment eligibility of new employees.

Currently, over 23,000 employers use the E-Verify program; roughly 2,000 additional join each month.

“Our current E-Verify system is not fraud-proof and was not designed to detect identity fraud,” said Emilio Gonzalez, director, USCIS. “The photo tool enhancement will give employers an additional resource to help verify identity and employment authorization status and is just one more valuable enhancement to an effective, fair and viable program.”

The photoscreening tool was pilot tested this March. The tool lets employers compare identical photos (e.g.: the photo on an employee’s EAD or green card and the image stored in the USCIS database). Employers can then use this tool to determine whether the document presented to them is a valid photo I.D.

Employers that participate in E-Verify will be trained how to use the tool through an online refresher tutorial. All new E-Verify participants will learn how to use the tool through an updated E-Verify manual, a tutorial and a memorandum of understanding.