Washington, DC – March 21, 2011 – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced this week, the launch of E-Verify Self Check, an innovative service that provides individuals the ability to go online and check their employment eligibility status. Self Check was developed in response to a request by Congress to create a service through which U.S. workers could check their own employment eligibility status outside of the employer focused E-Verify process. This voluntary, free program facilitates the comparison of user-provided Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9) information with data in Federal Government databases to verify a user’s employment eligibility. In addition, Self Check incorporates an Identify Proofing solution that validates a user’s identity using dynamic Knowledge Based Authentication based on a variety of public and private data sources.
“E-Verify is a smart, simple, and effective tool that allows us to work with employers to help them maintain a legal workforce,” Napolitano said in a statement. “The E-Verify Self Check service will help protect workers and streamline the E-Verify process for businesses.”
Previously, this service was only available to U.S. employers, which caused a disconnect in informing U.S. workers of their employment eligibility and consequently in allowing them to perform redress if E-Verify provided a ‘Tentative Non-Confirmation’ (TNC) response to a U.S. worker’s employment eligibility query. Allowing the U.S. workforce to proactively determine their employment eligibility by comparing their information with that in federal government databases will facilitate the clearing up of data inaccuracies. These data inaccuracies can result from anything from typographical errors to unreported name changes and can cause a TNC when an employer checks a new worker’s employment eligibility in E-Verify.
Blackstone Technology Group and its partners, Efiia Consulting, Anakam and Akamai, on behalf of the DHS Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), Enterprise System Development Office (ESDO) and USCIS led the development and delivery of this robust new service. The Blackstone team architected the Identity Proofing solution, interfaces to existing USCIS systems and provided thought leadership around the use of Cloud services to host the solution. By leveraging Cloud services, DHS and the Blackstone team were not only able to quickly develop the solution using agile methodologies, but also deliver a highly scalable solution that could be expanded to meet the demands of an online service available to the general public. Furthermore, the incorporation of Identity Proofing not only inhibits fraud and identity theft, but also sets the groundwork to enable the Federal Government to leverage this functionality as a re-usable service for future system delivery.
About Blackstone Technology Group
Blackstone Technology Group is a global technology and IT management consulting firm who is committed to solving the business challenges of public and private sector organizations as they strive to modernize systems, transform operations, deliver reliable access to the public, and share information to strengthen national security. Our mission is to implement innovative IT and business process solutions that help clients address industry challenges, cost containment, and transformation in their competitive marketplace or public service context.
Founded in 1998, Blackstone has garnered a track record of delivering successful results, with a client list that includes many Fortune 1000 businesses as well as multiple U.S. Federal Government and California State Agencies. Company headquarters are located in San Francisco, California, with offices in Sacramento, Denver, and Washington DC.
