What is a desk review?

A desk review is a compliance assistance tool that consists of phone calls, emails, interviews and document exchanges between E-Verify’s Account Compliance staff and E-Verify participants. Desk reviews allow compliance staff to help E-Verify participants correct employment verification activities that E-Verify staff have detected as non-compliant. Participants selected for a desk review provide compliance staff with E-Verify employment-related documents, such as Tentative Nonconfirmation (mismatch) notices, referral letters, and employment verification procedures and process documents. Compliance staff review and analyze these documents to determine if the participant is properly following E- Verify policies and procedures. Compliance staff will then assist E-Verify participants to correct any problems and provide an enhanced level of user assistance. Failure to cooperate with a desk review is a violation of the E-Verify Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and may lead to further compliance action, up to and including termination of your E‑Verify MOU and access to E-Verify.

Requirements of a desk review

To better understand how an enrolled employer uses E-Verify and to ensure compliance with program guidelines and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), compliance staff are authorized to review a participant’s employment eligibility verification records. When conducting a desk review compliance staff will request copies of:

  • Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification - used to verify the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States;
  • Identity and Employment Eligibility Documentation - employees must provide documentation to their employers to show their identity and authorization to work. This documentation could include:

    Documents that Establish Both Identity and Employment Authorization.

    Employers who participate in E-Verify must retain copies of the front and back of employee’s documents used for photo matching and retain them with the Form I-9. List A documents include:

    • U.S. Passport or U.S. Passport Card (copy includes Passport ID page and the Passport Barcode page);
    • Form I-551, Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card; and
    • Form I-766, Employment Authorization Document;
    • Foreign Passport with Form I-94 or Form I-94A with Arrival-Departure Record, and containing an endorsement to work;
    • Passport from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) or the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) with Form I-94 or Form I-94A; and
    • Foreign Passport containing a Form I-551 stamp or Form I-551 printed notation;

    Documents that Establish Identity.

    Employees of E-Verify participants who present a List B document are required to provide a List B document with a photo. Employers are not required to retain copies of the identity documents for their employees when presenting Form I-9. But employers who choose to keep copies, must retain them for all employees, and retain the copies with the employee’s Forms I-9 or employee record; and

    Documents that Establish Employment Authorization.

    While employers are not required to retain copies of the employment authorization documents their employees present for Form I-9 completion, employers who choose to keep copies must retain them for all employees and with their employee’s Form I-9;

  • Any Further Action Notices and the Referral Date Confirmations for all E-Verify cases that resulted in a Tentative Nonconfirmation (mismatch);
  • The E-Verify Case Details page containing the E-Verify case number for the E-Verify cases, unless the employer records the E-Verify case number on the associated Form I-9; and
  • State New Hire Report, Quarterly Wage Report, or any other system generated payroll reports. . These reports includes at a minimum the first and last name, Social Security number, and date of hire or rehire for all employees on your payroll during a specific period requested by compliance staff, regardless of whether an E-Verify case was created for the employee.

E-Verify Account Compliance has authority to take and consider evidence related to employment eligibility verification under Section 287(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1357(b), and in associated rules and regulations. All E-Verify participants must follow the guidelines set forth in the MOU and the rules and responsibilities outlined in the ‘E-Verify User Manual for Employers.’ Article II, Section A, Item 18 of the MOU states:

The employer agrees to cooperate with DHS and SSA in their compliance monitoring and evaluation of E-Verify, which includes permitting DHS, SSA, their contractors and other agents, upon reasonable notice, to review Forms I-9 and other employment records and to interview it and its employees regarding the Employer’s use of E-Verify, and to respond in a prompt and accurate manner to DHS requests for information relating to their participation in E-Verify.

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