Self Check, a free federal online service that allows workers to check their own employment eligibility status, is now available to New Jersey residents, and is now available in Spanish.
For several years, employers have been using the Internet-based E-Verify service, a Department of Homeland Security program administered by USCIS in partnership with the Social Security Administration. to determine employees’ eligibility to work in the United States through information reported in the employee’s Form I-9. When NJ workers use Self Check to confirm their eligibility to work in the United States, they enter the same information that employers would enter into E-Verify. Self Check allows users to compare their information to the same databases that E-Verify accesses, giving them an opportunity to address any existing data mismatches before they are hired by an E-Verify-participating employer.
Self-Check is strictly voluntary, however, and employers cannot ask or require their workers to use it. The program is now available in 21 states, and will go nationwide in 2012. For more information on Self Check, visit www.uscis.gov/selfcheck.
