Do I need a lawyer for an e-verify I9?

May 21, 2019 12:39 AM

I got flagged for a "needs further action" on an I9. I'm an American, no dual citizenship. The employer was vague, or probably didn't know, as to what flagged it. I've never had this happen before. Is there something besides a typo that could have flagged it that I need to be aware of?

I have a slight paranoia when talking to government officials without a lawyer as I've watched too much daytime television probably, but what could cause e-verify to fail? The DHS site says basically the only thing you can get flagged for is not being a citizen and there being a clerical error. I asked a friend in HR and they said they could flag you for basically anything if you're "being investigated," which I assume I'm not. I'm not political and don't post things online. Is there another reason my I9 could fail? And also a reason my passport would not work? I'm supposed to travel and a new employer will love an e-verify failure and me not able to board a plane, not the first impression I'm wanting to make.

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (9 answers total)

What is the expiration date of your passport? Is it possible it's expired and you didn't know? You used to be able to use an expired passport, but now it must be current.

Did you use a drivers license also, and is that expired? I only ask because I let mine expire a year ago by mistake, and only found out when I got carded at a gas station. Oops.

Did you have a name change, such as due to marriage? Does your social security card reflect your current name?

This page outlines the steps your employer and you should take.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 12:58 AM on May 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

This happened to me at my previous workplace. It turned out that my gender was wrong on my Social Security account, probably due to an error 30+ years ago.

(we had people from 23 different countries, and I was the only one who got flagged. I'm white, American, and my mother works there so my HR Dept was shocked to say the least.)
posted by Fig at 3:45 AM on May 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

My guess is there is a clerical error; something in your record and the paperwork doesn't match up. As mentioned, an expiration date, a name change, a gender marker, all those types of things have to match or the system throws up an error and they have to look into it. Probably this will work out fine, they'll find the error, it may be amusing, and you'll get it sorted. Try not to panic. These things happen in big bureaucracies but it's not always Kafkaesque, much of the time it's very mundane.
posted by epanalepsis at 6:29 AM on May 21, 2019

Seems like clerical error is most likely, but I would wonder if it might be a sign that someone else has been using your SSN and gotten it red-flagged. My understanding is that there's a fair amount of I9 fraud that goes on, generally using "borrowed" (read: identity theft) SSNs. I've never had it happen to me, though, I've just heard of it happening anecdotally, so I don't know if they'll straight-up tell you what's going on or not.

I don't think there's any reason to be especially nervous with regard to the government. It's a giant bureaucracy and thus sometimes a bit obnoxious to deal with, but if you're patient and not a jerk, I can't really imagine anyone giving you an especially hard time. (Also they almost certainly don't know/care what you're posting online. Daytime TV is not a realistic portrayal of intra-governmental communication and information sharing. Would that it were sometimes.)

In the meantime I might check your credit and other usual stuff for signs that someone might be out there running around with your SSN though.
posted by Kadin2048 at 6:41 AM on May 21, 2019 [3 favorites]

I got the same message when I was hired at my current job, and it was just because I used a passport instead of my license and social security card, so they had to take a physical copy of my passport to meet requirements.
posted by xingcat at 7:15 AM on May 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

This happened to me because I’m trans and my name changed. It was very simple to resolve.
posted by nikaspark at 7:44 AM on May 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

This happened to me after I got married and tried to use my new name at work before updating Social Security. A trip to the local office sorted it out.
posted by cabingirl at 9:20 AM on May 21, 2019

E-Verify can fail if your social security number is being used by someone else who is not a citizen, or it can fail if you have a common enough name that you come up as someone else - even databases the size of DHS have inaccuracies and failures.
If you've never changed your name and your identification documents aren't expired, the next step here would be to get copies of your credit report and make sure that someone else isn't opening accounts or doing business using your SSN and a different address.
You can also provide a social security card and birth certificate for the I-9, if your passport isn't working right now.
posted by zdravo at 9:29 AM on May 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

I think the "clerical error" can be as minor as a blank field. Like, if you don't have an apartment number, you MUST put N/A in that field rather than leave it blank. Could it be something like that?
posted by peep at 9:30 AM on May 21, 2019 [1 favorite]