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The background section of the final rule cites several reasons for the change. USCIS receives about 6 million immigration benefit requests per years, via more than 50 application and petition types, and USCIS’s paper-based process has become inefficient in light of technological developments. Although USCIS will not become completely paperless, completed paper filings will be digitally converted and the agency will operate electronically, thereby “fostering greater operational efficiency, provid[ing] transparency], and improv[ing] access to information through online accounts for those who do business with USCIS.”

Under the new system, USCIS will use online accounts. Applicants and petitioners will have access to individualized accounts that:

• provide information on applying for benefits;
• make filing easier; and
• allow applicants, petitioners, and their representatives to track the status of applications and petitions.

Additionally, the electronic system will provide USCIS adjudicators a comprehensive view of an alien’s immigration history.

DHS also noted that it is finalizing interim rules to permit the submission of benefit requests with an electronic signature when submitted in electronic format.

Photo credit: Tom Ventura

As noted in the Questions and Answers posted to the USCIS website, the final rule:

• prohibits employers from accepting expired documents; and
• makes the following changes to the List of Acceptable Documents (“List A”):
  • Eliminates: identity and employment authorization documentation Forms I-688, I-688A, and I-688B (Temporary Resident Card and outdated employment authorization cards).
  • Adds: foreign passports containing temporary I-551 printed notations on certain machine-readable immigrant visas.
  • Adds as evidence of identity and employment authorization: valid passports for citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI); Forms I-94 or I-94A indicating nonimmigrant admission under the Compact of Free Association between the United States and FSM or RMI.

Because the final rule makes no changes to the interim rule, USCIS will not be issuing a new Form I-9. Employers may continue to use the current Form I-9 (Rev. 08/07/2009) or the prior version (Rev. 02/02/2009).

However, the final rule, which becomes effective September 10, 2010, makes the following changes:

• permits telephone interviews to screen potential participants’ eligibility;
• removes the requirement that sponsors secure a Dun & Bradstreet report profiling companies with whom a participant will be placed; 
• provides clarification regarding the verification of workers’ compensation coverage for participants and use of an Employer Identification Number to ascertain that a third-party host organization providing training is a viable entity; and
• clarifies that trainees and interns may repeat training and internship programs under certain conditions.

EVPs allow foreign nationals with significant experience in certain occupational fields to receive further training in the United States. They are designed to enhance academic and occupational skills and expertise by having participants engage in structured work-based training and internship programs, and to improve participants’ knowledge of American techniques, methodologies, and technology. EVPs also are intended to expose visitors to U.S. culture and society, and Americans to foreign cultures and skills.