In 1996, Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), which required the Social Security Administration (SSA) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service, to conduct an employment verification pilot program. Under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), USCIS operates the E-Verify program, previously referred to as the Basic Pilot program. E-Verify is an internet-based system that implements the requirements of IIRIRA by allowing any U.S. employer to electronically verify the employment eligibility of its newly hired employees.

E-Verify is a voluntary program. However, employers with federal contracts or subcontracts that contain the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) E-Verify clause are required to enroll in and use E-Verify as a condition of federal contracting. Employers with employees in states with legislation that require participation in E Verify, for example, as a condition of business licensing, may also be required to participate in E Verify. In addition, an employer may be required to participate in E-Verify pursuant to a court order.

Apart from any state or local law that requires participation in E-Verify, employers are fully responsible for complying with sections 274A (which addresses the requirements of the Form I-9 process) and 274B (which addresses unfair immigration-related employment practices) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Employers who fail to comply with either section may be subject to penalties.

E-Verify works by electronically comparing the information from an employee’s Form I-9 with records available to SSA and/or DHS to verify the identity and employment eligibility of each newly hired employee and/or employee assigned to a covered federal contract.

Employers can verify the employment eligibility of only one person at a time within E-Verify. All cases must be created individually.

E-Verify is free and it is the best means available to confirm the employment eligibility of new hires. E-Verify is currently available in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam the U.S. Virgin Islands and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Significant differences between enrollment and registration which are outlined in the Enrollment vs. Registration Overview. For additional information on enrollment, visit https://www.E-Verify.gov/employers/enrolling-in-E-Verify.

Employers who wish to check their enrollment status or access method should contact:

Employers who have enrolled and you need information about registering additional users, should see Section 2.4.

ENROLLMENT VS. REGISTRATION OVERVIEW

To participate in E-Verify, employers must enroll. You can find information about the system requirements on the E-Verify website under Enrolling in E-Verify.

To enroll in E-Verify, corporate administrators should visit the enrollment website which guides employers through the enrollment process. Additional information regarding enrollment is found at www.E-Verify.gov.

Enrolled employers can assign their users with different permissions and functions, depending upon the user’s role. Corporate administrators are the only user role with access to the corporate administrator account. Every verification location (employer account) must have at least one program administrator who provides support for general users and manages the location’s profile. A verification location can choose to have general users in addition to program administrators who will only be able to create and manage all cases. Corporate administrators oversee E-Verify use and provide support to all enrolled verification locations and users at these locations. As a corporate administrator your primary functions are to enroll the employer’s verification locations in E-Verify and to manage the information and users that are linked to your corporate administrator account. The corporate administrator account on its own does not allow you to create, view, or manage cases in E-Verify.

Corporate administrators must successfully complete the online corporate administrator tutorial and pass the knowledge test before privileges to add and manage the employer’s verification locations are granted. The user will be prompted to take the tutorial when he or she logs in to E-Verify for the first time. If a corporate administrator has the need to create or manage E-Verify cases in addition to his or her administrative responsibilities, he or she may also create a program administrator account for his or her use.

Program administrators and general users must successfully complete the online E-Verify tutorial and pass the knowledge test before they can create or manage cases. Users will be prompted to take the tutorial when they log into E-Verify for the first time.

For more detailed instructions on creating and managing cases, refer to the E-Verify User Manual.

Review the permissions of each user role in the User Role Overview below.

USER ROLE OVERVIEW

All E-Verify users need to be familiar with the website navigation links. The figure below provides a screen shot of the corporate administrator user web page.

E-VERIFY MENU OVERVIEW

E-Verify users are bound by the guidelines in the MOU and the rules and responsibilities outlined in this manual. 

To ensure proper use of E-Verify and protection of employee workplace rights, you should periodically review all the program rules and employer responsibilities with their users. 

RULES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OVERVIEW

Employers who participate in E-Verify must:

• Follow E-Verify procedures for each employee for whom an E-Verify case is created.
• Notify prospective employees and all employees, including those hired to work in a remote setting of E-Verify participation by clearly displaying the E-Verify Participation and the Right to Work posters in English and Spanish. 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. You may also display the posters in other languages provided by DHS. 
• Complete Form I-9 for each newly hired employee before creating a case in E-Verify.
• Obtain a Social Security number from each newly hired employee on Form I-9.
• Ensure that Form I-9 List B identity documents have a photo.
• Create a case for each newly hired employee no later than the third business day after he or she starts work for pay. Enter the employee’s email address in E-Verify if it was provided on Form I-9.
• Provide each employee with notice of and the opportunity to take action on a Tentative Nonconfirmation (Mismatch).
• Download the Further Action Notice before referring the case.
• Ensure that all personally identifiable information is safeguarded.

Employers participating in E-Verify must not:

• Use E-Verify to pre-screen an applicant for employment. Specify or request which Form I-9 documentation an employee must use, except to specify that any Form I-9 List B document the employee chooses to present must contain a photo.
• Use E-Verify to discriminate against any job applicant or employee on the basis of his or her national origin, citizenship, or immigration status.
• Create an E-Verify case for an employee who was hired before the employer signed the E-Verify MOU, except in certain instances such as employees of federal contractors with the FAR E-Verify clause.
• Take adverse action against or terminate an employee because he or she received a mismatch result, unless E- Verify issues a case result of Final Nonconfirmation.
• Share any user ID and/or password.

Upon enrollment, employers are required to clearly display the E-Verify Participation and Right to Work posters in English and Spanish, both of which appear below. Employers may also display the posters in other languages provided by DHS. After logging in to E-Verify, the posters are found under View Essential Resources.

E-VERIFY PARTICIPATION ENROLLMENT NOTIFICATIONS

Notice of E-Verify Participation

Provided by DHS

Right to Work Poster

Issued by Department of Justice, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section

The use of E-Verify requires the collection of personally identifiable information (PII). Employers must protect the privacy of employees who submit information to be processed through E-Verify. It is your responsibility to ensure that all personal information collected is safeguarded and used only for the purposes outlined in the MOU between E-Verify and the employer/user.

E-Verify protects PII in accordance with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) records retention and disposal schedule (N 1-566-08-7) by annually disposing of E-Verify records that are over 10 years old. This minimizes security and privacy risks associated with U.S. government retention of PII.

Failure to properly protect employee information can result in identity theft or fraud and can cause considerable inconvenience, harm or embarrassment to the employees or employer affected.

At a minimum, follow the steps in the Privacy Guidelines Overview to protect personal information and comply with the appropriate requirements.

PRIVACY GUIDELINES OVERVIEW

• Allow only authorized users to use E-Verify.
  Ensure that only appropriate users handle information and create cases.
• Secure access to E-Verify.
  Protect passwords used to access E-Verify and ensure that unauthorized persons do not gain access to E-Verify.
• Protect and store individuals’ information properly.
  Ensure that employee information is stored in a safe and secure location and that only authorized users have access to this information.
• Discuss E-Verify results in private.
  Ensure that all case results, including Tentative Nonconfirmations (Mismatches) and Final Nonconfirmations, are discussed privately with the employee.

There are two types of company locations in E-Verify: verification locations and hiring sites. It is important to recognize the difference between verification locations and hiring sites to determine how to organize the employer’s E-Verify accounts. It is possible for a verification location and a hiring site to be the same. Verification locations and hiring sites are described below.

VERIFICATION LOCATIONS

A verification location is where the employer’s staff takes the information from an employee’s Form I-9 and creates a case in E-Verify. Generally, each verification location has its own employer account (see the Corporate Administrator Organization Overview).

If the employer has staff at each location that uses E-Verify, then each location is considered a verification location. If the employer centralizes the use of E-Verify to certain locations, then only those locations are considered verification locations.

Corporate administrators can enroll the employer’s verification locations in E-Verify through the corporate administrator account.  To enroll a verification location, the corporate administrator must provide the information for that location in E-Verify. Although, a corporate administrator account does not require an MOU, an MOU must be electronically signed for each verification location that is enrolled in E-Verify.

If a verification location no longer needs an E-Verify account, a corporate administrator or program administrator must terminate that account. To terminate a verification location’s account, see Terminate Company Participation – Process Overview in Section 2.6

To enroll a new verification location in E-Verify, follow the steps in Enroll Verification Location-Process Overview.

ENROLL VERIFICATION LOCATION – PROCESS OVERVIEW

Enter Company Information

• From Company Locations, select Manage Company Locations.
• 
• The Search Company function may automatically populate some of the company’s information for the new company location.
• To search for the company’s information:
  • From the Company Information screen, enter the Company Name, Company ID, Street Address, City, and ZIP Code. 
  • Select the appropriate company and click View Company Profile.
  • If the company information is auto-populated, review the information for accuracy and enter the information for any fields that could not be populated.
  • To enter the company information manually click Add New Company.
• Enter the information including company name, Employer Identification Number, total number of employees, physical address and mailing address. A red asterisk (*) indicates a required field.

Select Employer Category

Choose Account Access

• Select the account access method that best describes how your company plans to use E-Verify.
• From the Add New Company Location screen, select the account access method that best describes how your company or entity plans to use E-Verify and click Next.

Employer Category

• To ensure we provide you with the right information you need to use E-Verify, please select the employer category that best describes your organization. Click on Next.

Company Information

• From the Company Information screen, enter the company information including the company name, doing business as (DBA), employer identification number (EIN), unique entity identifier (UEI), data universal numbering system (DUNS), total number of employees, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code, and click Next.

• To determine the NAICS code, select the appropriate sector and subsector by clicking the look up a code. The resulting NAICS code will appear.

  

  

• Click Next

Enter Company Address

• Enter the company’s physical address and mailing address information.
• Click Next

Hiring Sites

A hiring site is the location where employees are hired and complete Forms I-9. Employers select which hiring sites participate in E-Verify and must verify all newly hired employees for that hiring site. If you decide not to have a hiring site participate, you are not permitted to create E-Verify cases for your employees at that location.

• Click Bulk Upload or Add Hiring Site.
• From the hiring sites screen, select Add Hiring Site and enter the street address, city, state, and ZIP code and click Add Hiring Site to add your hiring sites one at a time.
• To add multiple hiring sites, follow the steps outlined in the following Bulk Upload of Hiring Sites – Process Overview.

Bulk Upload of Hiring Sites

The bulk upload function allows you to add multiple hiring sites by uploading a file. To use the bulk upload function, you must create a comma separated value (.csv) file with the hiring site addresses.

BULK UPLOAD OF HIRING SITES – PROCESS OVERVIEW

• From the Hiring Sites tab, select Bulk Upload.
  
• To help you prepare a spreadsheet to bulk upload large amounts of hiring sites’ data into E-Verify, click View CSV Guidelines.
• If you encounter errors, click Export Errors from the highlighted error banner displayed under Total Hiring Sites.
• Correct export errors, save the file, and click Bulk Upload to upload the document again.  
• Click Bulk Upload Hiring Sites to complete the bulk upload process for hiring sites. 

E-Verify Users

A company must have one Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Signatory and at least one program administrator.

• The MOU Signatory must have authority to sign the MOU on behalf of your company and will be added as the point of contact on the E-Verify account. The MOU signatory can also be registered as a program administrator.
• Program Administrators can create and manage cases and user accounts, run reports, update account information, and unlock passwords for other user accounts.

Sharing accounts is prohibited; all users must have their own individual user accounts.

If you will need access to E-Verify once your company or entity is enrolled, please add yourself as a program administrator. We will provide you with a new user ID.

Add user(s) below and designate which user is the MOU signatory and which are program administrators.

• You must add user(s) so your company or entity has one MOU signatory and at least one program administrator. You can add additional program administrators at any time after enrollment is complete.
• Add E-Verify user information.
  
• Click Add User
• Click Next

Review and Submit Enrollment

• Review the enrollment agreement. Click on I Agree to Term of Use box.
• Click the Submit Enrollment button.
  

• From the Enrollment Completed screen click View Memorandum of Understanding
• to view the MOU or click Manage Company Locations to return to your search page.

Corporate administrators can view all locations linked to their E-Verify corporate administrator account. Manage Company Locations allows you to view, search and maintain the locations assigned to your E-Verify corporate administrator account. When you need to complete this action follow the steps in the Manage Company Locations – Process Overview.

Manage Company Locations – Process Overview

• From Company Locations, select Manage Company Locations.
  
• The list of locations will appear on the ‘Company Locations Found’ page.
• From the ‘Search’ box, you can narrow the results by entering the Company Name, Company ID, Street Address, City, and/or Zip Code.
• From ‘Sort by’ you can click the drop-down arrow and select the category you wish to sort.
  
• From the list of displayed accounts, you can view or modify an account by selecting View Company Profile.
• The E-Verify company ID number for the verification location is located at the top of the Company Information page.
• For more information on updating company profile information, visit Section 5.1 EDIT CORPORATE ADMINISTRATOR ACCOUNT PROFILE.
  

Company Profile Fields

A corporate administrator may update Company Profile pages. For additional information on each field, see Company Information – Overview.

To modify any section of the Company Profile page, click View Company Profile in the section you want to modify (for example, company name and physical location, points of contact, NAICS code, total hiring sites and total points of contact).

NOTE: The location information can also be modified by a program administrator at the verification location.

Company Profile - Overview

View Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

Corporate administrators may view the MOU between E-Verify and the employer for each location. To view the MOU for a location, follow the steps outlined in the View MOU - Process Overview.

View MOU – Process Overview

• Follow the steps in Manage Company Locations – Process Overview to find the location for which you need to view the MOU. From the list of displayed accounts, you can view an account by selecting View Company Profile.
• From the Company Information page, click View MOU at the bottom of the screen.
  
• The MOU that was electronically signed for that location will appear in a new window. If the MOU does not load, ensure that your pop-up blocker is disabled.

Corporate administrators can add E-Verify users at multiple verification locations. To add an additional user, the corporate administrator must provide the user’s email address, name and phone number. A program administrator at the verification location may also add new users.

If a user leaves the employer or no longer needs access to E-Verify, a corporate administrator or program administrator must delete the user’s account. To delete a user account, see Delete User Account – Process Overview in Section 2.5.2.

To add a new E-Verify user, follow the Add New Company Location User - Process Overview.

Add New Company Location User – Process Overview

• From Company Locations, select Add New Company Location Users.
• Select the verification location of the new user and click Next.

• Select general user or program administrator and then click Next.

• Provide the person’s email address, name and phone number.
• Review the information and click Next.

• Accept the system-generated user ID or create a new user ID.

• Review the information and click Submit New ID.
• The New users will receive their user ID and password by email.

Only corporate administrators and program administrators can view user information and reset passwords. View Existing Users allows you to view, search and maintain the general users and program administrators assigned to each verification location. To view existing users, follow the View Existing Users – Process Overview.

View Company Location Users – Process Overview

• From, Company Locations, select View Company Location Users.

• Users are returned in the table. You can filter or sort the results by using the search criteria or clicking on a column heading in the table.

• This displays a list of user accounts. You can view or modify a user account by selecting the User ID link.

Participation in E-Verify may be terminated voluntarily by employers. To terminate participation, a program administrator, corporate administrator, the signatory of the MOU, or an authorized employer representative must submit a termination request no later than 30 days in advance of the date the employer would like to close its account. Employers may request termination electronically through E-Verify (see Terminate Company Account – Process Overview) or by submitting a written termination notice by email to E-Verify@uscis.dhs.gov. E Verify employer agents should review the Supplemental Guide for E-Verify Employer Agents for more information on company account termination.

During this 30-day period, employers must resolve all open cases in E-Verify, and they must not use E-Verify to create new cases. Employers are required to close all open E-Verify cases, even after the request to terminate the E-Verify account is made.

To close a verification location’s E-Verify account, complete the steps outlined in Close Company Account – Process Overview.

Terminate Company Location – Process Overview

• From Company Locations, select ‘Manage Company Locations’.
  
• Locate the location you want to terminate and select ‘Terminate’ link from the Company Locations Found page.
  
• Next, select your Termination Request Reason.
  
• Click ‘Next’.
• A ‘Review Termination Request’ message will appear informing the user that E-Verify will be notified of your request to terminate participation in the program.
  
• Once you select Yes, Request Termination, you will receive an email confirming that your account is terminated in 30 days.

A corporate administrator or program administrators can add users in E-Verify. When users are registered by the corporate administrator, they will receive an email with a user ID and temporary password. E-Verify will prompt users to change the initial password for security purposes. Users must not share their passwords with other users. Each user must have their own user ID and password.

Passwords are case-sensitive and must be between 8-14 characters, different from the assigned user ID, changed every 90 days, and have the following characteristics:

• At least one uppercase or lowercase letter
• At least one number and at least one special character - special characters include: ! @ $ % * ( ) < > ? : ; { } + - ~
• Contain no more than two identical and consecutive characters in any position from the previous password
• Contain a non-numeric in the first and last positions

Additionally, passwords should not:

• Contain any dictionary word
• Contain any proper noun or the name of any person, pet, child or fictional character, nor any employee ID number, Social Security number, birth date, phone number or any information that could be readily guessed about the creator of the password
• Contain any simple pattern of letters or numbers, such as ’qwerty’ or ’xyz123’
• Contain any word, noun or name spelled backwards

An example of an acceptable password is found in the Password Example.

PASSWORD EXAMPLE

This is an acceptable password:
IL!keH2o

• At least 8 characters in length
• An uppercase letter
• A lowercase letter
• A special character
• A number

E-Verify automatically prompts users to create a new password every 90 days. However, users who think their password has been compromised should change it immediately. The new password cannot be the same as any of the last six passwords.

After creating a new password, E-Verify will prompt users to confirm their email address and telephone number, and provide updates, if necessary.

UNLOCK USER ID

User IDs are sometimes deactivated or locked:

• To comply with federal security guidelines, USCIS must deactivated any user ID that has not been accessed within the past 270 days. A deactivated ser ID will not affect  the status of your E-Verify account.

• When a user forgets their password or if a user attempts to log in with an incorrect password three consecutive times, the user is locked out of E-Verify. 

   

CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD

Users who know or suspect that their password was compromised should change it immediately. To change a password, follow the steps in Change Password – Process Overview.

CHANGE PASSWORD – PROCESS OVERVIEW

1. From Profile, select Change Password.
   
2. Enter Old and New Passwords page will display.
3. Type current password in the Old Password field.
4. Type new password in the New Password field.
5. Retype new password in the Confirm New Password field. The new password cannot be the same as any of the last six passwords.
   
6. Click Save.

All E-Verify user have a profile that includes their name, telephone number, fax number (optional) and email address. Users should update this information whenever it changes by using the Edit Profile link. To update this information follow the steps outlined in Edit User Profile – Process Overview.

EDIT USER PROFILE – PROCESS OVERVIEW

• From Profile, select Edit Profile.
  
• Add information or edit fields as necessary. Fields with a red asterisk (*) are required fields.
• Click Submit. A confirmation message and your profile information will be displayed.
  
• Review the confirmation message to see whether the request for profile updates was successful. If E-Verify is unable to process the user profile updates, try again later.
• If the profile change was successful, Click Close.

To update corporate information in E-Verify, complete the steps in the Edit Corporate Administrator Profile – Process Overview.

EDIT CORPORATE ADMINISTRATOR PROFILE – PROCESS OVERVIEW

• From Corporate Account, select Edit Corporate Profile.
  
• To update any section of the Company Information page, click View / Edit in the section you want to edit (e.g., company name and physical location, Employer Identification Number, points of contact, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code, total hiring sites and total points of contact).
  
• Make the required updates and click Save & Continue
• The updated information should appear in the Edit Corporate Profile page.

Employers may choose to have more than one corporate administrator user at the headquarters location to serve as a backup and/or share corporate oversight responsibilities. Only corporate administrators can view, add and delete other corporate administrator users.

To add an additional corporate administrator, the corporate administrator must provide the user’s email address, name, and phone number.

If a corporate administrator leaves the employer or no longer needs access to E-Verify, another corporate administrator must delete the user’s account. To delete a user’s account, see Delete Corporate Administrator User Account – Process Overview in Section 5.3.

If you need to add a new corporate administrator, follow the Add New Corporate Administrator - Process Overview.

Add New Corporate Administrator – Process Overview

• From Corporate Account, select Add New Administrator.

• Select user role and click Next.

• Provide the person’s email address, name and phone number and click Next.

• Accept the system-generated user ID or create a different user ID.

• Review the information and then click Submit New User.
• New users will receive their user ID and password by email.

Only corporate administrators can view the information for other corporate administrators and reset the passwords of other corporate administrators. “View Existing Administrators” allows you to view, search and maintain the other corporate administrators assigned to the employer, as demonstrated in the View Existing Corporate Administrators – Process Overview.

View Existing Corporate Administrators – Process Overview

• From Corporate Account, select View Existing Administrators.

• Search for a user by entering criteria requested in any field. You can enter a partial name and a percent sign (%) as a wildcard character.
• This displays a list of user accounts. You can view or modify a user account by selecting the User ID link.

A corporate administrator may request that the employer’s corporate administrator access account be terminated in E-Verify. This request will only close the employer’s account at the corporate administrator level and will not close any employer accounts linked to the corporate administrator account.

If a corporate administrator needs to terminate certain or all verification locations, see Section 2.6. A program administrator at the verification location can also make the request to close the account.

To request termination of the corporate administrator account in E-Verify, perform the steps outlined in Terminate Corporate Administrator Account – Process Overview.

TERMINATE COMPANY ACCOUNT – PROCESS OVERVIEW

• From Company Account, select Close Company Account.

• Click Termination Request Reason field.

• From the drop-down list, select a Termination Request Reason.
• Click Next

• Review termination request and click Cancel or Yes, Request Termination.
• You will receive an email confirming that your account is terminated in 30 days.
• A message will appear informing you that E-Verify will be notified of your request to terminate participation in the program.