3 Examples Of Document Abuse During I-9 Verification

Employers who want to hire a foreign employee to work a full-time job are required to complete the I-9 verification process. This process can be lengthy, but there are certain regulations the employer must follow in order to protect the rights of the job applicant.

Discrimination can be a real concern for applicants going through the I-9 verification process. Here are three examples of document abuse, which is one of the most common types of discrimination seen during I-9 verification.

Watch for document abuse in the future, and work with an immigration lawyer to prevent this type of discrimination from negatively impacting your career.

1. Over-Documentation

A number of official documents must be submitted to a potential employer when you are going through the I-9 verification process. It's important that you know what type of documents an employer can request so that you can identify a type of document abuse known as over-documentation.

Over-documentation occurs when an employer requests more documents than necessary from an applicant. Over-documentation can be a way to stall the verification process, which is considered to be a form of discrimination.

An immigration lawyer can help you keep track of the documents your potential employer is requesting so that you can prevent over-documentation discrimination.

2. Document Refusal

The official documents that are issued by individual countries can look very different from the documents an employer is used to working with. This lack of experience with foreign documents can lead to some employers engaging in a type of discrimination known as document refusal.

The law prevents potential employers from refusing to honor the validity of a document. As long as the document appears to be valid and is issued to the individual applying for I-9 verification, employers are required to honor the document.

An immigration lawyer can help you work with your potential employer to prevent document refusal in the future.

3. New Employee Document Requests

All of the documents required to complete the I-9 verification process must be collected prior to the applicant being given a job offer. If an employer requests further documents from a new employee, this could be a form of discrimination.

Employers are not allowed to tell foreign applicants which documents can or cannot be used for verification. If the wrong document is submitted during the I-9 verification process, the employer must correct that mistake.

Experienced immigration lawyers are able to help their clients avoid potential job loss or discrimination caused by document abuse.