state requirements

States Adding Their Own Employment Verification Requirements

A recent trend in the immigration practice has been states (and some times even municipalities) adding their own requirements for employment verification, in addition to the Form I-9 required by federal regulations.

Most notable is Colorado, which now requires that employers complete an Affirmation of Legal Work Status (see www.coworkforce.com/lab/AffirmationForm.pdf ) and attach it to Form I-9  within 20 days after hiring a new employee and affirm that the employer has examined the legal work status of the employee, has retained file copies of all documents reviewed in connection with the completion of Form I-9, and has not knowingly hired an unauthorized alien.

In addition, certain states are requiring the use of the government’s E-Verify system (see www.dhs.gov/everify), as follows:

Two states (
Arizona
and

Mississippi

) require all employers doing business in their state to participate.

Eight states (
Colorado
,
Georgia
,
Minnesota
,
North Carolina
,
Oklahoma
,
Rhode Island
,
South Carolina
, and

Utah

) require some state contractors to use E-Verify

In addition, while not specifically requiring the use of E-Verify, states such as Tennessee and West Virginia are imposing penalties (such as suspension or revocation of business licenses) upon employers failing to adequately verify the employment eligibility of their employees.

There are also many other states (i.e.
Missouri
,
Virginia
 and
Oregon
) currently debating the idea of requiring registration with E-Verify.   Other states, such as

Illinois

, are challenging the use of the E-Verify system.

Please monitor our website for the latest developments in this area.