The Immigration and Naturalization Service last week released its draft of guidelines that schools and other employers would have to follow to verify that all workers hired since Nov. 7, 1986, are eligible to work in the United States.
The rules were among those proposed for implementing the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which mandates employer sanctions for hiring undocumented workers and provides a one-time offer of amnesty for illegal aliens. (See Education Week, March 18, 1987.)
Under the I.N.S. guidelines, employers would have to ask all new employees to produce documents that prove their identity and their employment eligibility within three days of their hiring.
Any of the following documents, the guidelines say, would meet both requirements: a U.S. passport, a certificate of citizenship or naturalization, an unexpired foreign passport with attached employment authorization, or an alien-registration card with a photograph.
As an alternative, an employee could show a combination of certain other documents: a picture identification card, such as a driver’s license, plus a birth certificate, a Social Security card, or an unexpired I.N.S. employment authorization.
The employer would be required to fill out a form detailing what documents were produced. That form would have to be kept on file for at least three years, or until one year after the person has left the organization, whichever is longer.
Starting in June, the I.N.S. will issue citations to employers who have hired illegal aliens since Nov. 7.
As expected, the proposed guidelines also say that illegal aliens would be able to use school-attendance records to prove that they have met the residency requirement for amnesty. Under the law, aliens who moved to the United States by Jan. 1, 1982, are eligible to seek amnesty.
The I.N.S. will accept certified copies of school records, the guidelines state. Such records must show the name of the school and the periods of attendance.
The draft also stipulates that all individuals over age 18 who are requesting amnesty would have to pay a $185 application fee. Each dependent minor would be charged $50, and the maximum fee for a family would be $420.
The I.N.S. proposals, which were published in the March 19 Federal Register, are open for public comment until April 20.
