New E-Verify Function Notifies Employees of a Record Mismatch

From Fragomen.com, 07/11/2013


USCIS is enhancing E-Verify to allow for direct notification to employees when their employment verification information cannot be confirmed against government databases. Notice of the mismatch – known as a tentative nonconfirmation (TNC) – will be provided as long as the employee has provided an email address on Form I-9. Notwithstanding the new functionality, employers are still required to notify the affected employee when a TNC is received. 

In the E-Verify system, if there is a mismatch between information provided by an employee and government databases, a TNC is issued to the employer, who must then contact the affected employee. With the new enhancement, E-Verify will notify both the employer and the affected employee. If the employee decides to take action to resolve the discrepancy, he or she must notify the employer, who will notify the relevant government agency, either the Social Security Administration for U.S. Citizens or the Department of Homeland Security for foreign nationals. 

In addition to providing the initial notice of a TNC, E-Verify will send reminder emails to the employee if no action to resolve the mismatch has occurred within four days of his or her decision to take action on the TNC. 

This latest enhancement to E-Verify comes in the wake of the recent revision to Form I-9, which gives new hires the option to include an email address on the form.

August 2013 Visa Bulletin

August 2013 Visa Bulletin: EB-2 India Will Advance Significantly

According to the State Department’s August Visa Bulletin, the priority date cut-off for EB-2 India will advance by three years and four months, to January 1, 2008.The State Department is advancing priority dates for this categories to ensure that quotas are fully used by the end of the fiscal year. 

There will be no movement for most other backlogged employment-based categories. EB-2 China will remain at August 8, 2008. EB-3 will remain at January 22, 2003 for India and January 1, 2009 for China and most other countries. EB-3 priority dates for the Philippines will see the only advancement next month, to October 22, 2006. 

August 2013 Visa Bulletin, Employment Based Categories

See the entire bulletin here: http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_6028.html

DOL Labor Certification Registry Goes Live

From Fragomen.com, 07/01/2013

The Department of Labor today launched the Labor Certification Registry, an online database that makes certified PERMs, labor condition applications (LCAs) and other labor certifications easily accessible to the public. 

The database, which was announced earlier this year, will make LCA, PERM and H-2A/H-2B labor certification records publicly available within two business days of certification, though the posting of H-1B LCAs has been delayed until July 15, 2013. The registry also contains all LCAs and PERMs certified since April 15, 2009. 

The registry's PERM records give users nearly complete access to information about jobs for which labor certification is sought, including job titles and descriptions, requirements, wages and recruitment, as well as employer contact, signatory and attorney information. Only the employer’s FEIN and the foreign national’s name and other personally identifiable information are redacted. LCA are fully viewable, with only employer FEINs redacted. 

DOL has made PERM and LCA case data available in the past, but the new registry contains far more information than had been disclosed previously.