73 Fed. Reg. 67651 (November 14, 2008)
On November 14, 2008, the Department of Defense (DoD), the
General Services Administration (GSA), and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), published a final rule that amends the Federal
Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to require certain contractors and subcontractors
to use the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' (USCIS) E-Verify system
to verify that certain of their employees are eligible to work in the United
States.
Under the final rule, institutions of higher
education that qualify as federal contractors can choose to limit the
E-Verify verification to only employees (existing or new hires) assigned to
the federal contract in question. This exemption also applies to "a State
or local government or the government of a Federally recognized Indian tribe;
or a surety performing under a takeover agreement entered into with a Federal
agency pursuant to a performance bond." The proposed rule published on June 12,
2008 did not contain such an exemption. Federal contractors not eligible for
the exemption must use E-Verify to verify all current employees working on a
federal contractor as well as all new hires regardless of whether they are
working on a federal contract. Other exemptions exist for certain types of
contracts.
This rule is effective on September 8, 2009. It was
originally scheduled to go into effect on January 15, 2009, but was delayed due
to litigation.