USCIS Launches Spanish-Language Version of E-Verify Self Check Fact Sheet

Online Service Also Expands to 16 Additional States

Introduction

Self Check, a free online service of E-Verify that allows workers to check their own employment eligibility status, is now available in Spanish and accessible to residents in 16 additional states: California, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) launched Self Check in March 2011 for residents who reside in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Mississippi, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Background

Self Check is an innovative service that allows individuals in the United States to check their employment eligibility status before formally seeking employment. E-Verify Self Check is the first online E-Verify program offered directly to workers and job seekers. This voluntary, free, fast and secure service was developed through a partnership between the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.

E-Verify is an Internet-based system that enables an employer to determine the eligibility of an employee to work in the United States by using information reported on an employee's Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification).

To use Self Check, workers over the age of 16 enter the same information that employers would enter into E-Verify. Self Check allows workers to compare their information to the same databases E-Verify accesses.

Self Check in Spanish and the Addition of States

USCIS now offers Self Check in Spanish, making the tool accessible to a large sector of the U.S. workforce that reads Spanish.

Self Check is available to individuals who maintain addresses in: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

Additional Self Check Enhancements

Since launching the service in March 2011, USCIS has made the following enhancements to Self Check:
¿ Providing more information to users via the online Self Check Questions and Answers; and
¿ Enhancing Self Check to provide users with the best possible customer experience. These enhancements include:
• Improving the guidance available to users who either receive notice of a possible mismatch in their records or are unable to complete a Self Check query;
• Adding information relating to the current availability of Self Check;
• Modifying the customer contact phone line to help ensure callers are reaching the right personnel; and
• Augmenting security protections to further guard against potential malicious activity.

Self Check Usage

Since the launch of Self Check in March 2011, more than 18,000 individuals in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Mississippi, Virginia, and the District of Columbia have used it to verify their employment authorization status.

For more information about E-Verify, please visit www.uscis.gov/everify. For more information on Self Check, visit www.uscis.gov/selfcheck or call the E-Verify Employee Hotline at 1-888-897-7781.