The U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that Self Check, the free online service of E-Verify that allows Americans to check their 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 state. Self Check is the first online service offered directly to U.S. workers by E-Verify, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program administered by USCIS in partnership with the Social Security Administration. Employers use the Internet-based E-Verify service to determine employees’ eligibility to work in the United States through information reported on the employee’s I-9 form.

First launched in March 2011, Self Check was implemented for residents who reside in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Mississippi, Virginia and the District of Columbia. “Self Check equips workers with fast, secure access to their employment eligibility information before they apply for jobs,” USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas stated in a release. “By offering Self Check to Spanish speakers and making the service more widely available, USCIS makes good on a promise to streamline and protect the integrity of the E-Verify process for employees and employers alike.”

When workers over the age of 16 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 data mismatches before they are hired by an E-Verify-participating employer.

USCIS says it will expand Self Check service nationwide by spring 2012.

Hedley Lawson, Contributing Editor