The E-Verify employment eligibility verification program will expire on Sept. 30, 2015, unless reauthorized by Congress.

Adding to the drama, lawmakers return from recess Sept. 8 to a full and contentious docket that includes finding long-term funding for transportation projects, lifting the debt ceiling and enacting a stopgap funding bill, or passing a continuing resolution before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Will employers be locked out of E-Verify come Oct. 1?

"E-Verify will likely be reauthorized ... for an additional five years if Congress has its way," said immigration attorney Ann Cun of the Meyer Law Group, based in San Francisco.

"No, it won't expire and it shouldn't," agreed Montserrat Miller, a partner at Arnall Golden Gregory, based in Washington, D.C.

Miller said that negotiations are ongoing to address several programs that expire at the end of September. "When Congress returns they will need to quickly pick this up and it could be part of the continuing resolution. Like last time, I expect they will eke this out in the final days."

Source: Society for Human Resource Mangement (SHRM)

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced proposed modifications to the E-Verify employment eligibility program that would include requiring participating employers to reverify employees whose work authorization has expired.

In addition to the reverification requirement, the agency has proposed altering the tentative nonconfirmation (TNC) process to apprise flagged employees of their status and allowing workers to request a review of their final nonconfirmation (FNC).

For the time being, the proposals apply only to employers that participate in the E-Verify program voluntarily, federal contractors and those required to participate by state law.

However, the proposed changes are creating a furor.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is recommending that the White House reject the proposal. "The proposed E-Verify expansion is not authorized by current statute, creates conflicts with existing regulations for federal contractors and creates operational difficulties for those affected," said Randy Johnson, the Chamber's senior vice president for labor, immigration and employee benefits.

If the proposed changes are enacted, "employers that participate in E-Verify would need to carefully review the procedural updates and, ultimately, ensure compliance with them. If implemented, the burden would be for the company to align its new E-Verify procedures with the effective date of any change," said Sara Herbek, an attorney in the Raleigh, N.C., office of Ogletree Deakins.

Any changes to the E-Verify program would not impact or relieve an employer of its I-9 obligations, she noted, though "These proposed changes could be indicative of a step toward transitioning from Form I-9s to E-Verify as the primary method and process of verifying an employee's identity and work authorization."

Source: Society for Human Resource Mangement (SHRM)