Private employers in Georgia with 11 – 99 employees must register with the federal electronic employment eligibility verification program — known as E-Verify — by July 1, 2013.
Enrollment and use of E-Verify for new hires is tied to a businesses license, occupational tax certificate or other document required to operate a business in Georgia. To see the affidavit of compliance which private employers must use, click here. E-Verify is the law in Georgia courtesy of HB 87 and most recently SB 160. These bills modified Code Section 36-60-6 of the Official Code of Georgia and laid out a rolling registration requirement for Georgia businesses to enroll in E-Verify starting January 1, 2012 (employers with 500+ employees), July 1, 2012 (employers with 100 – 499 employees) and now the upcoming deadline of July 1st. Note that small business with 10 or less employees are exempt from the E-Verify mandate.
This means that before a county or municipality issues a business license, occupational tax certificate or other document required to operate a business in Georgia, the business must provide an affidavit (see above link) attesting to the fact that they use the E-Verify program. Subsequent renewals will require that the business provide their E-Verify user number (no affidavit).
To learn more about E-Verify click here. Also, in order to use E-Verify, an employer must complete the Employment Eligibility Verification form (Form I-9) for new hires. The most current version of the Form I-9 can be found by clicking here.