Information and Instructions to Verify Social Security Numbers Online

Social Security Number Verification Service (SSNVS)

Overview

There are two Internet verification options you can use to verify that your employee names and Social Security numbers match Social Security’s records. You can:

Verify up to 10 names and SSNs (per screen) online and receive immediate results. This option is ideal to verify new hires.

Upload overnight files of up to 250,000 names and SSNs and usually receive results the next government business day. This option is ideal if you want to verify an entire payroll database or if you hire a large number of workers at a time.
While the service is available to all employers and third-party submitters, it can only be used to verify current or former employees and only for wage reporting (Form W-2) purposes.

Why Should I Verify Names and SSNs Online

Correct names and SSNs on W-2 wage reports are the keys to the successful processing of your annual wage report submission.
It’s faster and easier to use than submitting your requests paper listings or using Social Security’s telephone verification option.
Results in more accurate wage reports.
Saves you processing costs and reduces the number of W-2cs.
Allows Social Security to properly credit your employees’ earnings record, which will be important information in determining their Social Security benefits in the future.

Steps to Register for SSNVS

Register to Use SSNVS – Registration is required through www.ssa.gov/bso/bsowelcome.htm. Third-party preparers need only register once in their own firm’s name. Complete the registration form and select your own password. Social Security will verify your identity against our records and display a User ID. Make note of your the User ID, password and expiration date. Social Security Number Verification Service Handbook
Request Access and Activation Code – Return to www.ssa.gov/bso/bsowelcome.htm
and login in with your User ID and password. Select “Request Access and Activation Code.”
Activation Code is Mailed to Your Employer – Your employer should give you the activation code which allows you access to SSNVS.
Login to Use the Service – Go to www.ssa.gov/bso/bsowelcome.htm, select Login, input your User ID, password and activation code and you will be able to use the service.

NOTE: For more detailed instructions on registering and/or using SSNVS, get a copy of the www.ssa.gov/employer/ssnvs_handbk.htm.

HERE

HERE

Associated Press

Police: Tot who cried during World Cup is killed

McALLEN — A man accused of fatally beating his 2-year-old stepdaughter in Texas because she wouldn’t stop crying as he watched a World Cup match was expected to be charged Monday with murder, police said.

Hector Castro, 27, of McAllen was arrested Saturday and scheduled to be arraigned Monday in municipal court. He told police that the toddler wouldn’t stop crying while he was watching the U.S.-Ghana game on Saturday, McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez told The McAllen Monitor.

The girl was severely beaten, and police said a screw or bolt was forced down her throat in an apparent attempt to make it look like she accidentally choked.

“There are no words for this,” Rodriguez said. “It makes you want to think about doing lots of things to this guy, but he will face the criminal justice system just like everybody else.”

Castro, who was in the U.S. illegally, confessed to beating the girl, Rodriguez said. The toddler suffered several cracked ribs.

Four other children who lived at Castro’s apartment in McAllen were placed into the custody of Child Protective Services, Rodriguez said. There was no word on where the child’s mother was at the time of the child’s death.

McAllen is just north of the U.S.-Mexico border at the southern tip of Texas.

HERE

HERE

Arizona Republic

Huge demand to live in U.S. part of illegal immigration problem

WASHINGTON – While the national spotlight is focused on illegal immigration, millions of people enter the United States legally each year on both a temporary and permanent basis.

But the demand to immigrate to the United States far outweighs the number of people that immigration laws allow to move here legally. Wait times can be years, compounding the problem and reducing opportunities for many more who desperately want to come to the United States.

In 2009 alone, more than 1.1 million people, including nearly 21,000 living in Arizona, became legal permanent residents, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s 2009 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. The largest single group of new permanent residents nationwide, 15 percent, was born in Mexico. Six percent came from China and 5 percent came from the Philippines.

Also last year, nearly 744,000 immigrants, including about 12,400 Arizona residents, became naturalized U.S. citizens. The largest group, with 111,630 people, was from Mexico. The second largest group, with 52,889 people, came from India.

But those figures are eclipsed by the demand, which in part contributes to the problem of illegal immigration. Nearly 11 million immigrants are in the country illegally, according to estimates by the Department of Homeland Security. Earlier this year, there were an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona.

But since Gov. Jan Brewer signed Arizona’s controversial new immigration bill in April, hundreds, if not thousands, of illegal immigrants have left the state. And many more are planning to flee before the law takes effect July 29.

Some are going back to Mexico. Many are going to other states, where anti-illegal-immigrant sentiment isn’t so strong and where they think they will be less likely to be targeted by local authorities.

“Insufficient legal avenues for immigrants to enter the U.S. … has significantly contributed to this current conundrum,” says a report by Leo Anchondo of Justice for Immigrants, which is pushing for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Arizona’s immigration law makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally. It states that an officer engaged in a lawful stop, detention or arrest shall, when practicable, ask about a person’s legal status when reasonable suspicion exists that the person is in the U.S. illegally.

Temporary visas

Temporary visas allow people to enter the United States and stay for a limited amount of time before returning to their home countries. In 2009, about 163 million people came in this way. The biggest groups came from Mexico, Britain and Japan.

Among those who can obtain temporary visas: tourists; visitors on business trips; foreign journalists; diplomats and government representatives and their staffs; students and foreign-exchange visitors and their dependents; certain relatives of lawful permanent residents and U.S. citizens; religious workers; and internationally recognized athletes and entertainers.

Temporary visas also are used to bring in foreign workers when U.S. employers say they do not have enough qualified or interested U.S. workers. Among the categories: workers in specialty occupations, registered nurses to help fill a shortage and agricultural workers. Mexican and Canadian professionals also are granted temporary visas under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Permanent residents

A lawful permanent resident has been granted authorization to live and work in the United States on a permanent basis. As proof of that status, a person is granted a permanent-resident card, better known as a “green card.”

People petition to become permanent residents in several ways. Most are sponsored by a family member or employer in the United States.

Others may become permanent residents after being granted asylum status. In 2009, nearly 75,000 refugees were granted asylum from persecution in their home countries.

Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are given the highest immigration priority and are not subject to annual caps that apply to other categories of immigrants. Immediate relatives are defined as spouses, unmarried children under age 21 and parents.

Although there is no annual cap on the number of immediate relatives of U.S. citizens who can obtain green cards, there is a cap on the number of green cards for other relatives such as siblings and adult married children. That cap is about half a million people a year, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Employment-based immigration also is limited to 140,000 people a year, according to the lawyers association.

There also are limits based on a person’s country of origin. Under U.S. immigration law, the total number of immigrant visas made available to natives of any single foreign nation shall not exceed 7 percent of the total number of visas issued. That limit can make it tough for immigrants from countries such as Mexico, where the number of people who want to come here greatly exceeds the number of people that the law allows.

The estimated wait time for family members to legally bring their relatives into the United States from Mexico ranges from six to 17 years, according to a May study by the non-profit, nonpartisan National Foundation for American Policy. It is nearly impossible for a Mexican, especially someone without a college degree or special skills, to immigrate to the United States legally without a family member or employer petitioning on his behalf.

The costs also can be high. A U.S. employer who wants to bring in an immigrant worker can expect to pay nearly $6,000 in fees and legal expenses, according to the foundation.

A U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident petitioning to bring a relative to the United States from another country must pay a $355 filing fee for each relative who wants to immigrate, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Naturalized citizens

In general, immigrants are eligible to become citizens if they are at least 18 and have lived in the United States as a lawful permanent resident for five years without leaving for trips of six months or longer.

An applicant for citizenship must be deemed to be of good moral character, which means in part that they must not have been convicted of a serious crime or been caught lying to gain immigration status.

Applicants must be able to pass a test demonstrating that they can read, write and speak basic English. They also must pass a basic test of U.S. history and government.

Immigrants become citizens when they take the oath of allegiance to the United States in a formal naturalization ceremony. The oath requires applicants to renounce foreign allegiances, support and defend the U.S. Constitution, and serve in the U.S. military when required to do so by law.

The time it takes to become naturalized varies by location and can take years. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency is trying to improve the system and decrease the time to an average of six months.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/06/28/20100628legal-immigration-high-demand.html#ixzz0sCeLnmck

Arizona Republic — Phoenix

New Arizona law working already as illegals flee state

…Arizona’s new immigration law makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally. It states that an officer engaged in a lawful stop, detention or arrest shall, when practicable, ask about a person’s legal status when reasonable suspicion exists that the person is in the U.S. illegally…

HERE

Gainesville Times

June 28, 2010
ICE announces strategic plans that could affect deportations

By Stephen Gurr

The federal agency that enforces immigration law has announced changes that may ultimately play a role in determining when people are deported for being in the country illegally.
This month officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced a realignment of its removal and detention divisions and a new strategic priority plan for the next four years.

In Hall County, ICE agents determine who is deported under the 287(g) program, a local-federal partnership that detains illegal immigrants if they are brought to the Hall County jail on criminal charges.

Critics have said ICE and local officials should use broader discretion in determining who is deported under 287(g).

In its new strategic plan, the agency says dangerous criminals, including gang members, should be the primary target of its detention and removal efforts.

Azadeh Shahshahani, director of the National Security/Immigrants’ Rights Project at the ACLU of Georgia, says that hasn’t always been the case in local 287(g) programs.

“ICE needs to do a better job of communicating to the localities the priorities, to ensure that they are adhered to,” Shahshahani said. “There’s been promises of reform in the immigration detention system, (but) we haven’t seen a lot of changes on the ground.”

D.A. King, president of the Dustin Inman Society, a group that advocates for enforcement of immigration law, said he believes the Obama administration will “cut back on enforcement as a nod to the radical special interest groups who are making that demand.”

King does not believe, however, that the administration will end 287(g) altogether.

“Obama’s got to present to the public at least the facade of enforcement,” he said. “Were he to eliminate 287(g), he wouldn’t have that leg of the stool to stand on. I don’t believe 287(g) will be as strong as it has been, but I don’t believe it will be eliminated.”

Hall County Sheriff Steve Cronic, like his counterparts in Cobb and Gwinnett counties, has a policy of starting detention proceedings for any person charged with an arrestable offense while in the country illegally, while ICE agents make the final determination on deportation. More than 2,000 people arrested in Hall County have been deported in the two years the program has been in effect.

Cronic said he was uncertain what changes, if any, the new strategic plan would mean locally.

“As always, we operate under the provisions of the law and what is defined by the memorandum of agreement (with ICE) until told otherwise,” Cronic said…

HERE

John Litland letter to the editor, Marietta Daily Journal

Slackness on borders gives song new meaning
June 27, 2010
DEAR EDITOR:

It is an outrage and a disgrace that Mr. Obama continues to ignore the invasion taking place on our Southern border. Border Patrol Agents are being killed there, ranchers are being murdered and he does nothing.

The drug cartels have taken over an area from Mexico’s border to metro Phoenix known as the “smuggling corridor.” Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu from Pinal County has stated, “We are outgunned, we are outmanned and we don’t have the resources here locally for us to fight this.” When asked about the 1,200 National Guardsman Obama committed to send to patrol four states, his comment was, “What is truly needed is 3,000 soldiers for Arizona alone.”

It appears we have other “occupied territory” south of I-8 in southern Arizona. The Bureau of Land Management posted a sign outside our National Park there that said “Danger – Public Warning: Travel Not Recommended.” And the reasons they listed were, “Active Drug and Human Smuggling,” and “Visitors May Encounter Armed Criminals and Smuggling Vehicles Traveling at High Rates of Speed.” It is incomprehensible to me that our federal government is telling its citizens they shouldn’t go in parts of country for fear of being killed by foreigners. This should make everyone’s blood boil!

Our president sits by idly and allows our country to be invaded. Instead, he’d rather file a lawsuit against Arizona for passing a law to prevent this illegal traffic from occurring, which, by the way, is pretty much a mirror image of federal immigration law. What a hypocrite! He’s taken an oath to protect the United States from foreign enemies. It appears this is just another one of his many broken promises.

Obama gives new meaning to the Ramsey Lewis Trio classic “The In Crowd.” He’s IN-experienced, IN-effective, IN-competent and IN-ept. And we are IN big trouble, America.

John Litland
Marietta

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Slackness on borders gives song new meaning

Gainesville Times

Immigration facility may get softer look

A privately operated midtown Gainesville facility that holds illegal [aliens] prior to deportation could soon have a less jail-like environment. — The North Georgia Detention Center, former site of the Hall County jail, holds about 500 people who are detained by ICE officials for being in the country illegally…

HERE

Macon Telegraph

OPINION PAGE

Sunday, Jun. 27, 2010

Regents determined to create own immigration policy

By D.A. KING

Call it the latest example of immigration law “nullification” — the negation and disregard of the law to further an agenda or policy goal.

The leadership and the majority at the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia are apparently stubbornly determined to adhere to their recently exposed policy of admitting illegal aliens to Georgia’s public colleges — a “no illegal alien left behind” doctrine.

So, as the Regents have already done, let’s set aside the clearly worded laws designed to protect Americans in their own country and ask some obvious moral questions.

Why do the Regents want to take away classroom seats from citizens and legally present immigrant students and spend tax dollars to educate students here in violation of our laws, who are deportable at any time and are not eligible to work in the United States upon graduation?

Granted, workplace enforcement of our immigration laws is virtually non existent.

That could be the Regent’s reasoning. “The illegals are going to steal the jobs of Americans anyway; we should go ahead and educate them at taxpayer expense and thereby clearly demonstrate our own highly advanced moral superiority and noble enlightenment.”

I guess this possibility makes as much sense as any other answer. The attitude certainly isn’t a rarity.

But it brings up another question. How do the Regents justify the message being sent to real immigrant families across Georgia? Families that waited in line, who have honored the long, rich and sacred tradition of American immigration by coming here legally?

Having spent years going through the system that takes in more legal immigrants than any other nation in the world, the recent arrivals to Georgia are greeted with the Regent’s message that they are complete fools for going to the trouble.

Illegal children of the border jumpers are rewarded and allowed to take university classroom spaces so coveted in the new country by the puzzled immigrant who by now is correctly wondering about this whole “and justice for all, equal protection under the law” concept he has heard so much about. What a country.

The constant talking point from the left on this is that “we shouldn’t punish the children for what the parents did.” It is clear to many who actually think this through that we shouldn’t punish legally present youngsters for what their parents did not do — sneak across our border illegally and scream for special treatment as a civil right.

The Department of Homeland Security tells us that Georgia has more illegals than Arizona. Look no further than attitudes like the Regent’s admissions policy as one solid reason for that alarming statistic.

Despite the fact that there has been a very efficient system in place in Georgia since 2006, the Regents are still scratching their heads over how to verify the immigration status/eligibility of applicants for admission to our universities.

Real immigrants and citizen students would be very lucky if they use even a fraction of the zeal illustrated in the university system’s effort to ferret out ineligible dependents for the system’s employee health insurance program.

In their current “Dependent Insurance Audit,” the Regents have implemented a no-nonsense program of verification and sent each worker a letter promising to terminate the dependent coverage for any employee who cannot produce acceptable documentation of “eligibility.”

Ironic isn’t it?

For a university system employee who has listed their spouse as an additional insured on the group health insurance, the Regents have instituted a requirement that the employee produce a copy of nothing less than a marriage certificate. No undocumented spouses tolerated. And no apologies.

Along with Social Security numbers for all concerned, the Regents also require a copy of a federal income tax return or a joint bank/credit account, household bill or joint mortgage/lease from the last six months establishing current residency and the claimed dependent as a spouse. The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia should make it just as difficult for an illegal alien to take a seat in our post secondary education system as they do for an ineligible individual to obtain dependent health insurance coverage.

The Regents should quickly reconsider the contemptible policy of putting illegal aliens in front of America’s citizens and immigrants. And the governor should be the most outspoken in that demand.

D.A. King is a nationally recognized authority on illegal immigration and president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society. www.thedustininmansociety.org.