jeffreyhy

Are you thinking of E-Verify?

USCIS holds webinars for both I-9 and E-Verify. You might want to try them.

Regards, JEff

GeoffM

Aha, thanks. First impressions is that it's for companies rather than couples. But I do have a company, though she wouldn't be employed under it. So could I use my company's e-verify to check on a domestic helper? Choices, choices.

scrubbedexpat099

Don't forget to ask for Facebook logon.

LeavingLondon

Would this info on this thread also apply to a casual babysitter? My intention would be to find a babysitter to watch the kids on an ad hoc basis on a Saturday night. If i understand this link correctly, nanny tax would kick in if annual pay exceeds $1700 (or whatever the 2013 threshold is). So to get round this, could one have a couple of babysitters on the go and make sure that no single babysitter's annual pay surpassed the threshold? Not ideal but cheaper?

GeoffM

So in the topsy-turvey world of USCIS/DHS/SSA it is:
1. Illegal to hire a employee not authorised to work in the US
2. Illegal to verify an employee's work authorisation until after you have hired them.
(That's not an either/or question)

GeoffM

For anybody else that might be considering this. I set up the e-verify registration as it's feasible to employ the nanny under my company. One has to go through a ~100-slide tutorial and then answer 70% of 28 multiple guess questions correctly. Yours truly got 96%; it's pretty easy, took about an hour I guess.

However, I can't get any further until she is actually employed, before I can verify whether she's allowed to be employed... and then I need to get an I-9 form filled in, and then information from that and relevant ID (eg passport, driving license) to start the e-verify process.

Clearly not as easy as phoning an office with a SSN and asking if they're authorized to work!

scrubbedexpat099

It isn't supposed to be.

GeoffM

I can understand verifying that it's not just any old Joe phoning up. The I-9 form with its requirements ought to be enough to verify - but only to those experienced enough to understand. Which then leaves newbies like me wanting to get a more formal verification which is theoretically only open to employers in the company sense, not employers in the domestic sense - who are probably the people who need most help! I guess most in my situation would do things discreetly but (a) I can't claim any tax deductions for child care if it's not legal; (b) I need to be squeaky clean by the time it comes to citizenship if we go that route.

The anti-prescreening rule kind of makes sense too, but (thinking from my old job, not just my current situation) it puts employers at a significant disadvantage in that they have to employ somebody on the hope that they're employment-authorised, but can't tell for sure until the verification is complete. That could be the first day of employment or after 8 "government work days" or even later. By that time, other potential candidates have to be told that they were unsuccessful. Even if you did then contact a 2nd choice after the event, how would they feel knowing that they were initially rejected but reconsidered? Clearly they shouldn't know why the first choice failed but it doesn't take too much guesswork to narrow down the reasons.

It is what it is and I'm just passing observation on the system. Whatever I think of it, I still have to follow the rules!

retzie

As a matter of interest, what are you supposed to do if E-verify rejects them?

scrubbedexpat099

They send you a letter that you pass on asking clarification.

GeoffM

You have to let them go I guess.

That depends. There are two initial stages where you're neither approved nor denied - basically decision pending. I can't remember the difference but one involves telling the employee to go to a DHS/SSA office to provide more details (the office would have access to the e-verify information you've already entered). If they fail to do it within 8 government business days then they're rejected as a no-show.

During the process you give the employee some paperwork indicating that e-verify is being used, in English and Spanish (!). Presumably that gives them some blurb about their rights and what to expect.

Bomjeito

Don't forget any state obligations as well. We paid our nanny's Medicare and SSA payments as per IRS but you have the option to withhold her personal income tax. We chose not to and clearly stated this in her contract. Here in Texas we also had to pay the state workforce commission pot toward unemployment.

We were glad we followed the law as she was let go by us and was pretty angry about it. We found put later she had indeed reported her former employer for tax evasion as she was paid as a "contractor."

No need to put the help through your company for tax reasons...it's a simple form on your income tax each year.

And domestic help in the USA cannot be independent contractors.