1. Why Employers Must Verify Employment Eligibility of New Employees

In recent years, Congress has worked to reform our nation's immigration laws. These reforms, the result of a bipartisan effort, preserve our tradition of legal immigration while closing the door to illegal entry. The employer sanctions provisions, found at Section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act, were added by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). These provisions further changed with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1990. References to "the Act" in this Handbook refer to the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended.

Employment is often the magnet that attracts persons to come to or stay in the United States illegally. The purpose of the employer sanctions law is to remove this magnet by requiring employers to hire only persons who may legally work here: citizens and nationals of the United States and aliens authorized to work. To comply with the law, you must verify the identity and employment eligibility of anyone you hire, and complete and retain a Form I-9.

In addition, the law obliges you not to discriminate against individuals on the basis of national origin or citizenship, or to require more or different documents from a particular individual.

This law has been strongly supported by the public. Employers have joined, and continue to join, the effort to protect our heritage of legal immigration. This cooperation has made jobs available to American citizens and to aliens who are authorized to work in our country. In addition to being the law, it is good business practice for you to verify the identity and employment eligibility of your workers. The law deserves your support.

The Form I-9 was developed for verifying that persons are eligible to work in the United States. You should have completed a Form I-9 for everyone you have hired after November 6, 1986. The law requires you as an employer to:

• Ensure that your employees fill out Section 1 of the Form I-9 when they start to work.
• If employees are unable to present the required document(s) within 3 business days of the date employment begins, they must present a receipt for the application for the document(s) within 3 business days. The employees must have indicated, by having checked an appropriate box in Section 1, that they are already eligible to be employed in the United States. When they provide you with a receipt showing that they have applied for a document evidencing that eligibility, you should record the document title in Section 2 of the Form I-9 and write the word "receipt" and any document number in the "Document #" space. The employee must present the actual document within 90 days of the date employment begins. At that time, you should cross out the word "receipt" and any accompanying document number, insert the number from the actual document presented, and initial and date the change.
• You must retain the Form I-9 for 3 years after the date employment begins or 1 year after the person's employment is terminated, whichever is later.