On March 12, 2003, the Department of Homeland Security’s undersecretary for border and transportation security said that the government would meet the December 31, 2003 deadline to complete an automated entry and exit system at the airports and seaports for foreign visitors. He added that it will be difficult to meet to the end of 2005 deadline to have the a fraud-proof system at all the nation’s land ports of entry because that depends on systems and infrastructure that is not in existence at present.

***

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is changing its procedure for issuing “no-match” letters.  Traditionally, the SSA sends a “no-match” letter to both an employer and employee if either a name or Social Security Number on a W-2 form does not match the SSA records.  Commencing this year, the SSA will only issue “no-match” letters in the following occasions: 1) to employers with more than 10 employees with mismatched information or 2) to employers where 0.5% of the filed W-2 forms do not match SSA records.  The most prominent change to the text of the “no-match” letter is the removal of a reference to IRS penalties.

***

A number of changes have occurred with the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) with the transfers of numerous immigration functions to the Department of Homeland Security.  On February 28, 8 CFR was amended in the Federal Register to show the reorganization of the INS to Homeland Security and the retention of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) in the Department of Justice.  Additionally, a new 8 CFR Chapter V was established by this publication.  On March 5, technical amendments to the new 8 CFR Chapter V were issued in the Federal Register.  On March 6, authority to administer immigration laws as mentioned in 8 CFR was transferred to the Secretary of Homeland Security.