On March 21, 2011, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas announced the launch of E-Verify Self Check. This is a new service that allows individuals in the United States to check their own employment eligibility status before they formally seek employment.

“E-Verify is a smart, simple, and effective tool that allows us to work with employers to help them maintain a legal workforce,” said Secretary Napolitano. “The E-Verify Self Check service will help protect workers and streamline the E-Verify process for businesses.”

According to the USCIS, the E-Verify Self Check system, which was established in partnership between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA), is the “first online E-Verify program offered directly to workers and job seekers.” The system “gives users the opportunity to submit corrections of any inaccuracies in their DHS and SSA records before applying for jobs—allowing workers to better protect themselves from potential workplace discrimination that could result from an employer's abuse of the E-Verify system.”

The agency explains that the E-Verify program compares information from the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9) against federal government databases to verify workers' employment eligibility. According to USCIS, the E-Verify Self Check system allows each user to identify data inaccuracies, such as typographical errors and unreported name changes, that would result in a mismatch before he or she seeks employment. The new E-Verify Self Check service is now available to users who maintain an address in Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, Mississippi, Virginia, or the District of Columbia. In the coming months, USCIS plans to expand the E-Verify Self Check service to users in additional areas.

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