standing with E-Verify, have enrolled in E-Verify with respect to all hiring sites that use the alternative procedure and comply with all E-Verify requirements. If a qualified employer chooses to offer the alternative procedure to new employees at an E-Verify hiring site, they must do so consistently for all employees at that site. However, dealers may choose to offer the alternative procedure for remote hires only and continue to apply physical examination procedures to all employees who work onsite or in a hybrid capacity, so long as they do not adopt such a practice for a discriminatory purpose or treat employees differently based on their citizenship, immigration status, or national origin. A qualified E-Verify employer may continue to examine documents physically instead of remotely. Additionally, dealers must allow employees who are unable or unwilling to submit documentation using the alternative procedure to submit documentation for physical examination. Requirements of the Alternative Document Review Procedure Within three business days of an employee’s first day of employment, a qualified E-Verify employer (or an authorized representative acting on the employer’s behalf) who chooses to use the alternative procedure must: • Examine copies (front and back, if the document is twosided) of Form I-9 documents or an acceptable receipt to ensure that the documentation presented reasonably appears to be genuine; • Conduct a live video interaction with the individual presenting the document(s) to ensure that the documentation reasonably appears to be genuine and related to the individual. The employee must first transmit a copy of the document(s) to the employer (per Step 1 above) and then present the same document(s) during the live video interaction; • Indicate on the Form I-9, by completing the corresponding box, that an alternative procedure was used to examine documentation to complete Section 2 or for reverification, as applicable; • Retain a clear and legible copy of the documentation (front and back, if the documentation is two-sided); and • Create an E-Verify case if the employee is a new hire. DHS Provides Relief for Certain Employers Enrolled in E-Verify During COVID-19 Flexibilities Perhaps the most significant development is the alternative solution DHS is now offering qualified employers who were left with an arduous task of bringing in all the employees they hired remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic to review their original documents and annotate their I-9s by the upcoming August 30 deadline. Qualified E-Verify employers can use the alternative procedure to satisfy the required physical examination of an employee’s documents for that Form I-9 if the dealer: • Was enrolled in E-Verify at the time they performed a remote examination of an employee’s Form I-9 documentation for Section 2 or reverification while using the COVID-19 flexibilities; • Created an E-Verify case for that employee (except for reverification); and • Performed the remote inspection between March 20, 2020 and July 31, 2023. These dealers should not create a new case in E-Verify. All qualified employers that use the alternative procedure instead of physical examination as described above must follow the steps of the alternative procedure and add “alternative procedure” with the date of examination (meaning the date the employer performed a live video interaction as required under the alternative procedure) to the Section 2 Additional Information field on the Form I-9 or in Section 3, as appropriate. 22
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