Questions and Answers

Get answers to your E-Verify questions.

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If your company is enrolled as a(n):

  • Employer: You must begin using E-Verify for all new hires on the date you electronically sign the memorandum of understanding (MOU).
  • Corporate Administrator: You cannot create cases in E-Verify. You must enroll your company’s locations and sign an MOU for each verification location. The verification location must begin using E-Verify for all new hires on the date that you, as the corporate administrator, signed the MOU for that location.
  • E-Verify Employer Agents: You must begin to create cases in E-Verify for all your new hires on the date you electronically sign the MOU. Once you have a client, you must submit an additional MOU signed by you and the client company to DHS. Once you submit the client company’s MOU and the client enrollment is active, you must immediately begin using E-Verify for all of your client company’s new hires at the location(s) specified.
  • E-Verify Employer Agent Clients: You must sign an MOU and submit it to your E-Verify employer agent. After you submit the MOU and your enrollment is active, your E-Verify employer agent must create cases in E-Verify for all of your new hires at the location(s) specified.
  • Web Services Access for Employers: You must begin to create cases in E-Verify either through the E-Verify website or your software that interfaces with E-Verify for all new hires on the date you electronically sign the memorandum of understanding (MOU).
  • Web Services Access for E- Verify Employer Agents: You must begin to create cases in E-Verify either through the E-Verify website or your software that interfaces with E-Verify for all your new hires on the date you electronically sign the MOU. Once you have a client, you must submit an additional MOU signed by you and the client company to DHS. Once you submit the client company’s MOU and the client enrollment is active, you must immediately begin using E-Verify for all of your client company’s new hires at the location(s) specified.

If you are a Federal Contractor with the FAR E-Verify clause in your contract, please note that your timeframes may be different.  See the E-Verify Supplemental Guide for Federal Contractors for details. 

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No, your employer may not ask you to obtain a printout from SSA records or other written verification of your Social Security number from SSA. SSA’s system will interface with E-Verify and provide your employer an update automatically. 

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When creating the case in E-Verify the only required name fields are First Name and Last Name. The Other Last Names Used field in E-Verify is not a required field but employers are encouraged to use it to enter any other names employees provided.  This will help E-Verify confirm employment authorization and avoid unnecessary Tentative Nonconfirmations (mismatches).

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Yes, you must enroll in E-Verify, electronically sign an E-Verify memorandum of understanding (MOU), and participate in E-Verify in order to employ F-1 students seeking an extension of their optional practical training (OPT) under the STEM-designated degree program. F-1 students who participate in an approved period of post-completion OPT after earning a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree from the list of designated STEM degrees STEM degrees may apply for this extension of their OPT.

Universities seeking to hire F-1 students who are applying for the STEM OPT extension should enroll in E-Verify either as the university as a whole or as separate departments. If the university as a whole enrolls in E-Verify, the F-1 STEM OPT students may work in any qualifying STEM departments in the university. If the university departments are separately enrolled in E-Verify, then only those university departments that have a signed E-Verify MOU qualify as E-Verify employers and F-1 STEM OPT students may only work for those departments.

Employment agencies and consulting firms that wish to employ F-1 OPT students who seek the extension must be enrolled in E-Verify. Third parties contracting with the agency or firm for which the student is providing services need not be enrolled.

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Yes. You must replace previous versions of their posters with the most recent versions as soon as possible. The latest versions of the E-Verify Participation and the IER Right to Work posters are available on the resources page and in E-Verify under View Essential Resources and View Resources pages.

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Unless an employer is a federal contractor with a federal contract containing the FAR E-Verify clause, it cannot use E-Verify for existing employees. If an employer’s account was inactive due to deliberate non-use while hiring numerous employees over several years, that employer should not go back and create cases for any employees hired during the time its account was inactive.  However, an employer who is actively using E-Verify but learns that he or she has failed to create a case in E-Verify by the third business day after the employee’s first day of employment should immediately create a case for the employee.
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Many states require employers to disclose E-Verify case information to state officials as proof of compliance with state laws requiring use of E-Verify as a condition of state business licensing. Employers and their E-Verify Employer Agents who enroll in E-Verify to comply with state law are authorized by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide certain E-Verify information to authorized state officials, DHS, Immigrant and Employee Rights section (IER) and their contractors. This permission allows employers to comply with state laws as well as the E-Verify Memorandum of Understanding, which only allows dissemination of certain E-Verify information when it is authorized in advance by Social Security Administration (SSA) or DHS for legitimate purposes. 

The E-Verify Quick Audit Report was designed to satisfy requirements that employers report their E-Verify activity to authorized Federal, state, and local government agencies.

The Quick Audit Report case data provides:

  • Basic company information;
  • Case identifiers;
  • Case resolution information; and
  • No sensitive employee information.

You may find further information about the Quick Audit Report in the E-Verify User Manual for Employers.

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If a citizen of the FSM, the RMI or Palau receives an E-Verify mismatch (previously called a Tentative Nonconfirmation or TNC), it is usually because of a name and date of birth-related error. When completing Form I-9, instruct employees to use their full legal name and to enter their date of birth in the month/day/year format. Be especially careful when you enter the employee’s name and date of birth in E-Verify. Also, note their citizenship status. They should mark “alien authorized to work,” not “noncitizen national of the United States.”

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To reset a user’s password, follow the steps outlined in Reset User’s Password – Process Overview.

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Yes, any employer who wishes to employ a student with a 24-month STEM OPT extension must develop a formal training plan that clearly identifies the STEM OPT student’s learning objectives and the employer’s commitment to help the student achieve those goals. The student and his or her prospective employer must work together to complete this form. Please visit the Training Plan section at the STEM OPT Hub on DHS’ Study in the States website for an overview of this requirement for employers and STEM OPT students.

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