Sec. 1 Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to ensure compliance by the University of Texas System Administration (U. T. System Administration) with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 as modified by the Immigration Act of 1990 and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.
Sec. 2 Policy Statement
In accordance with these provisions, the U. T. System Administration must verify the employment eligibility of all persons hired by completing the most current version of the Form I-9 for each individual hired and must not knowingly hire or continue to employ any person not authorized to work in the United States.
As part of its good-faith efforts to comply with these verification responsibilities, the Office of Talent and Innovation will refer to the most current edition of the M-274, Handbook for Employers published by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as a reference guide.
Sec. 3 Form I-9
3.1 Employee Obligation
The U. T. System Administration requires all hired employees to complete Section 1 of Form I-9 on or before the first day of employment for pay. The U. T. System Administration uses an electronic I-9 for employment eligibility documentation.
In completing Section 1, the employee must record his or her personal information and attest that he or she is a citizen of the United States, a noncitizen national of the United States, a lawful permanent resident, or an alien authorized to work in the United States including Alien Registration/USCIS/Form I-94 Admission/Foreign Passport Number and associated expiration dates.
The employee must electronically sign and date the Form I-9. In the event of a technical issue, the paper Form I-9 will be used.
3.2 Employer Obligation
The Office of Talent and Innovation is responsible for reviewing the Form I-9 to confirm that the employee fully and completely completes Section 1 and; ensuring within three business days of the commencement of employment that the employee presents original documentation of his or her choice from the List of Acceptable Documents in order to verify the employee's identity and employment eligibility. The M-274 should be consulted for a complete list of acceptable documents and their validity. In certain cases, U.T. System Administration may accept a receipt as specified in the List of Acceptable Documents if the employee presents one.
3.3 Deadline for Documentation
If an employee is unable to present an acceptable document or receipt from the Form I-9 List of Acceptable Documents within the three business-day period, the employee should not continue work for U. T. System Administration until such time that he or she is able to provide acceptable evidence of identity and employment eligibility.
3.4 Employer Certification
The Office of Talent and Innovation or designee will examine and certify the original documents presented by the employee within three business days of the first day of employment for pay to determine that they reasonably appear to be genuine and that they relate to the individual who has presented the documents and will not accept documents that appear to be forged, fraudulent, or subject to tampering.
If the documents reasonably appear to be genuine and to relate to the individual, the Office of Talent and Innovation will complete Section 2 of Form I-9. The person signing Section 2 of the Form I-9 must be the same person who met with the employee and examined the original documents presented by the employee.
Sec. 4 Reverification of Employment Eligibility
If the employee attests to be an “alien authorized to work” in Section 1 of Form I-9, the Office of Talent and Innovation has an obligation to reverify employment eligibility of the employee before the work authorization expiration date listed in Section 1.
Reverification consists of meeting with the employee on or before the date his or her work authorization expires, reviewing original documents of the employee’s choice from the List of Acceptable Documents and completing Section 3 of the Form I-9. If an employee is unable to present acceptable documents which demonstrate continued employment authorization, he or she cannot continue to work beyond his or her work authorization expiration date.
U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents should not be re-verified.
Sec. 5 Records Retention
The Office of Talent and Innovation will retain Form I-9 for all active employees. When an employee is terminated, the corresponding Form I-9 will be retained for five years after the individual’s employment is terminated. Forms I-9 shall never be destroyed for active employees.
Sec. 6 Avoiding Discrimination
The U. T. System Administration will uniformly administer the employment eligibility verification process regardless of an individual’s national origin, citizenship, or immigration status. An employee will be free to choose which document(s) he or she will present from the List of Acceptable Documents and will not be requested to provide specific documents.
The U. T. System Administration will not request to see employment eligibility verification documents before an offer of employment has been extended and accepted.
The U. T. System Administration will not refuse to accept a document or refuse to hire an individual because a document has a future expiration date.
Definitions
Form I-9 - Employment Eligibility Verification Form of Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS); for employer compliance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act.
U.S. Citizen - includes persons born in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
U.S. National - includes persons born in American Samoa, including Swains Island.
