The legislation currently being considered by the Senate includes significant changes to the current system used to verify that an employee is eligible to work in the U.S. including:

• New document retention requirements. Under the legislation, an employer must copy, sign, and date (and have employees sign and date) each document presented for review and retain all documents with the I-9.
• An extension of I-9 retention periods. The legislation would require retention of I-9 forms for the length of employment plus 2 years, or 7 seven years from the date of hire, whichever is longer.
• New mandates for employers that receive no-match letters from the Social Security Administration.
• An extension of electronic employment verification. All new hires and current employees would have to be checked through the system.
• A new certification of compliance program. The government could send orders to certain chief executive officers to conduct an internal review and certify compliance.
• Expanded investigation and enforcement capability.
• Expanded fines and penalties.