; regulations (a) Effective dates (1) In general Sections 2 and 4 through 6 of this Act, subsections (a) and (c) through (f) of section 3 of this Act, and the amendments made by the sections, shall take effect on the date on which the Secretary issues the rules under subsection (c) of this section, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall accept petitions pursuant to section 218A of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as inserted by this Act, beginning no later than that date. Section 7 of this Act shall take effect on the date of the enactment of the Act. (2) At-will employment Section 3(b) of this Act and the amendments made by that subsection shall take effect on the date that it becomes unlawful for all persons or other entities to hire, or to recruit or refer for a fee, for employment in the United States an individual (as provided in section 274A(a)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1324a(a)(1) )) without participating in the E-Verify Program described in section 403(a) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 ( 8 U.S.C. 1324a note) or an employment eligibility verification system patterned on such program’s verification system, and only if at that time the E-Verify Program (or another program patterned after the E-Verify Program) responds to inquiries made by such persons or entities by providing confirmation, tentative nonconfirmation, and final nonconfirmation of an individual’s identity and employment eligibility in such a way that indicates whether the individual is eligible to be employed in all occupations or only to perform agricultural labor or services under sections 218A and 219B of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as added by section 3 of this Act, and if the latter, whether the nonimmigrant would be in compliance with their maximum continuous period of authorized status and requirement to remain outside the United States under section 218A(n) of such Act, as added by section 3(a) of this Act, and on what date the alien would cease to