The Dept. of Homeland Security has issued its final rules for handling Social Security Number no-match letters. The rule will go into effect as soon as the federal court lifts an earlier injunction.

The new rules provide employers with a “safe harbor.” To qualify, you would have to determine within 30 days if the discrepancy was due to a typo or clerical error. If so, you must correct the error, notify the Social Security Administration and keep documentation of the steps you took above, along with the employee’s I-9.

Discrepancy wasn’t on your end? Then you have five days to tell the employee. He or she will then get 90 days to resolve the discrepancy with SSA. (The clock starts ticking on the day your company receives the no-match letter.)

The entire rule is available for download.