Questions and Answers

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. 

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. 

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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

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.

Employer agents who have executed and maintain an active MOU with the client may act as the client’s authorized representative and request termination of accounts on behalf of their client. A client may also terminate or maintain its own E-Verify account, even when it retains an Employer Agent.

When completing Section 2 of Form I-9, staffing agencies may choose to use either the date a new employee is assigned to their first job or the date a new employee accepts an offer and is entered into the assignment pool as the first day of employment, this will also be the date used when creating the case in E-Verify. Staffing agencies should not leave the certification date or the Employee’s First Day of Employment field blank. Staffing agencies should remain consistent with regard to the date they choose to use as the first day of employment when completing Forms I-9 and E-Verify cases.

All aliens must have a currently valid Employment Authorization Document (EAD) to work in the CNMI. Parole gives someone legal status to stay in the CNMI but does not by itself provide employment authorization. A parolee may apply for a discretionary grant of a USCIS Employment Authorization Document (EAD) by filing USCIS Form I-765.  E-Verify can confirm the employment authorization of any employee who presents a valid EAD for Form I-9.

E-Verify will take appropriate administrative measures to assist participants in coming into compliance with E-Verify policies and procedures. E-Verify does not fine employers. However, in certain cases of suspected misuse, abuse, discrimination, and/or fraud, as stated in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), E-Verify can terminate an employer or entity’s participation in E-Verify at any time, with or without notice, if deemed necessary because of the requirements of law or policy. E-Verify may recommend that a participant be referred to agencies that investigate illegal employer activities.

E-Verify posters can be displayed by enrolled employers only. E-Verify requires its participants to display the E-Verify Participation and Right to Work posters in prominent locations clearly visible to prospective employees and all employees, including those hired to work in a remote setting. This can include displaying the posters digitally, online, in hard copy at physical locations, and providing a copy of the posters with job application materials.  Electronically linking official (non-sample) E-Verify posters to external web sites is not permitted.  

Visit the Trademark and Logo Usage Guidelines page for more information on digitized logo. 

Yes, E-Verify's Account Compliance analysts will assist E-Verify participants with any questions about following E-Verify policies and procedures. The Account Compliance self-assessment guides provide best practices for direct access users and web services users using E-Verify. E-Verify participants may also call the E-Verify Contact Center at 888-464-4218 from 8 am to 5 pm local time and ask to speak to an Account Compliance analyst who can assist you with any compliance questions you may have.

E-Verify compares information from an employee’s Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to data found in U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) databases. E-Verify cannot delete records. An employee can submit a request for an agency to correct or amend his or her records. The process for correcting immigration records can be found on the How to Correct Your Immigration Records page. To correct SSA records, the employee should contact SSA or visit their website at www.ssa.gov.

Yes, you may enroll only the locations that will create E-Verify cases in the E-Verify employer access method. These locations can create cases for one or several hiring sites. During enrollment, your company may indicate the number of hiring sites and the name(s) of the program administrator(s) associated with that verification location. You will need to sign only one MOU.

The E-Verify MOU states that an account may be terminated at any time upon 30 days prior written notice. Under certain circumstances, an E-Verify account may be closed prior to the end of the 30-day period. Those circumstances include:

• The company no longer exists;
• Closing the account is necessary to protect the account from unauthorized access;
• A company has duplicate or unnecessary accounts;
• A company needs to re-enroll in order to change its E-Verify access method; or
• E-Verify determines that closing an account before 30 days is necessary based on the requirements of law or policy.

To request that your E-Verify account be closed prior to 30 days from your notice of termination based on one of these circumstances, your written request for termination must:

• Request that your E-Verify account be closed prior to 30 days from your notice of termination;
• Explain why your account should be closed prior to 30 days from your notice of termination, referencing and explaining in detail one or more of the circumstances above; and
• Specify the date you would like your E-Verify account closed.

Closing E-Verify accounts prior to the end of the 30-day period is at the discretion of E-Verify.