[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 124 (Thursday, June 29, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42093-42094]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-13786]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

[OMB Control Number 1615-NEW]


Agency Information Collection Activities; New Collection: E-
Verify NextGen, I-9NG

AGENCY: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of 
Homeland Security.

ACTION: 60-Day notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration Services (USCIS) invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to comment upon this proposed new collection of 
information. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 
1995, the information collection notice is published in the Federal 
Register to obtain comments regarding the nature of the information 
collection, the categories of respondents, the estimated burden (i.e., 
the time, effort, and resources used by the respondents to respond), 
the estimated cost to the respondent, and the actual information 
collection instruments.

DATES: Comments are encouraged and will be accepted for 60 days until 
August 28, 2023.

ADDRESSES: All submissions received must include the OMB Control Number 
1615-NEW in the body of the letter, the agency name and Docket ID 
USCIS-2023-0011. Submit comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
website at https://www.regulations.gov under e-Docket ID number USCIS-
2023-0011.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: USCIS, Office of Policy and Strategy, 
Regulatory Coordination Division, Samantha Deshommes, Chief, telephone 
number (240) 721-3000 (This is not a toll-free number. Comments are not 
accepted via telephone message). Please note contact information 
provided here is solely for questions regarding this notice. It is not 
for individual case status inquiries. Applicants seeking information 
about the status of their individual cases can check Case Status 
Online, available at the USCIS website at https://www.uscis.gov, or 
call the USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283 (TTY 800-767-1833).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    With this demonstration project, called ``E-Verify NextGen,'' USCIS 
intends to further integrate the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility 
Verification, process with the E-Verify electronic employment 
eligibility confirmation process to create a more secure and less 
burdensome employment eligibility verification process overall for 
employees and employers. This integrated internet-based project will 
permit employees to create their own secure account, resolve E-Verify 
tentative non-confirmations (also referred to as ``mismatches'') in 
advance and directly with the government, instead of through their 
employer, and then receive an electronic verification response that 
they can use and update with subsequent employers.
    The current employment eligibility verification process relies on 
employer participation to ensure both employees and employers correctly 
enter information on the Form I-9 and then subsequently transfer that 
information into the E-Verify system. This employer intervention with 
employee-related information is less secure and sometimes results in 
data entry errors with the cases created in E-Verify. These cases can 
result in E-Verify mismatches that may require additional actions by 
the employer, the employee, the Social Security Administration, and 
DHS, to complete an employment eligibility verification. The burden of 
initiating this resolution process currently falls mostly on employers. 
If an employer does not correctly follow the E-Verify steps needed to 
communicate the mismatch resolution processes to employees, including 
failing to notify the employee of the mismatch, the employees and the 
government have difficulty resolving the mismatch, and the employees 
and employers may not receive timely and appropriate confirmation of 
their employment eligibility. Employees who are not notified of their 
mismatch may not have an opportunity to resolve it and can face 
termination if their E-Verify case results in a final nonconfirmation.
    The goal of E-Verify NextGen is to streamline the employment 
eligibility verification and confirmation process for employers and 
employees by:
     Resolving E-Verify mismatches and electronically issuing 
an employment authorized result to individuals who E-Verify finds to be 
work authorized, which will expedite future E-Verify

[[Page 42094]]

checks and make an employee's employment eligibility verification 
easier for future employment.
     Giving employees more direct control over their data 
privacy and a more direct stake in their employment eligibility 
verification process by creating a secure, individual account for 
employment eligibility verification. This better protects personally 
identifiable information and helps improve data accuracy.
     Allowing employees to receive notification of and resolve 
E-Verify mismatches directly with the government without requiring the 
employer to be an intermediary to print and distribute forms, which is 
a more secure and private process that can speed up case resolution.
     Removing the employer's primary role in the mismatch 
resolution process. While employers would be informed about their 
employee's mismatch, this process removes employers as the intermediary 
to communicate a mismatch to the employee, as affected employees are 
instead notified directly and provided the instructions required to 
resolve the mismatch.
    The demonstration project will be built upon the existing USCIS and 
E-Verify web services capabilities and will be enhanced by two 
electronic applications for the employee and employer, respectively, 
each of which will have its own terms of service. USCIS will conduct 
detailed internal assessments of the demonstration project and intends 
to provide necessary reports and briefings on the project status as 
required by law. USCIS now welcomes comments to the proposed collection 
of information associated with these new functionalities.

Comments

    You may access the information collection instrument with 
instructions or additional information by visiting the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal site at: https://www.regulations.gov and entering 
USCIS-2023-0011 in the search box. All submissions will be posted, 
without change, to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov, and will include any personal information you 
provide. Therefore, submitting this information makes it public. You 
may wish to consider limiting the amount of personal information that 
you provide in any voluntary submission you make to DHS. DHS may 
withhold information provided in comments from public viewing that it 
determines may impact the privacy of an individual or is offensive. For 
additional information, please read the Privacy Act notice that is 
available via the link in the footer of https://www.regulations.gov.
    Written comments and suggestions from the public and affected 
agencies should address one or more of the following four points:
    (1) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
    (2) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and
    (4) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.

Overview of This Information Collection

    (1) Type of Information Collection: New Collection.
    (2) Title of the Form/Collection: E-Verify NextGen.
    (3) Agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of the 
DHS sponsoring the collection: I-9NG; USCIS.
    (4) Affected public who will be asked or required to respond, as 
well as a brief abstract: Primary: Individuals or households; Business 
or other for-profit; Not-for-profit institutions. E-Verify NextGen, I-
9NG, was developed as a demonstration project to further integrate the 
Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, process with the E-
Verify electronic employment eligibility confirmation process to create 
a more secure and less burdensome employment eligibility verification 
process overall for employees and employers.
    (5) An estimate of the total number of respondents and the amount 
of time estimated for an average respondent to respond: The estimated 
total number of respondents for the information collection I-9NG 
Employers, Recruiters and Referrers for a fee, and State Employment 
Agencies is 189,015 and the estimated hour burden per response is 0.05 
hours; the estimated total number of respondents for the information 
collection I-9NG Employees (New User Account Creation) is 11,668,584 
and the estimated burden per response is 0.17 hours; the estimated 
total number of respondents for the information collection I-9NG 
Employees (Employment Eligibility Verification, Form I-9NG) is 
13,231,050 and the estimated burden per response is 0.08 hours; the 
estimated total number of respondents for the information collection by 
Record Keeping and Audits is 13,248,648 and the estimated burden per 
response is 0.17 hours.
    (6) An estimate of the total public burden (in hours) associated 
with the collection: The total estimated annual hour burden associated 
with this collection is 5,955,966 hours.
    (7) An estimate of the total public burden (in cost) associated 
with the collection: The estimated total annual cost burden associated 
with this collection of information is $0. This is a voluntary program. 
Any requirements to support the verification process are already 
available through other approved collections of information that may be 
employment related or occur as a part of the hiring process.

    Dated: June 23, 2023.
Samantha L. Deshommes,
Chief, Regulatory Coordination Division, Office of Policy and Strategy, 
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland 
Security.
[FR Doc. 2023-13786 Filed 6-28-23; 8:45 am]
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