U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Https

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

branding: 'Branding' navigation_second: 'Navigation Second' footer_first: 'Footer First' footer: 'Primary Footer' footer_second: 'Footer Second'

Appendix B: Glossary

A

Documents designated for determining employment eligibility and identity under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) are listed on Form I-9 and in the Handbook for Employers (M-274) found at http://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/handbook-employers-m-274. Employees have the right to choose which document or combination of documents to present. Any List B document presented to an employer participating in E-Verify must contain a photograph.

The I-94 number is an 11-digit number that is found on the Arrival-Departure Record (Form I-94 or Form I-94A).

An individual who is not a citizen or national of the United States. “Foreign national” is a synonym and used outside of statutes when referring to noncitizens of the U.S.

A noncitizen who is allowed to work because of his or her immigration status or a noncitizen who is granted work authorization by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

A noncitizen who is allowed to work because of his or her immigration status or a noncitizen who is granted employment authorization by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

A unique seven-, eight- or nine-digit number assigned to noncitizens at the time their A-file is created. The nine-digit U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services number listed on the front of Permanent Resident Cards (Form I-551) issued after May 10, 2010, is the same as the Alien Registration Number. The A-Number can also be found on the back of these Permanent Resident Cards.

A document issued to noncitizens when admitted into the United States. Some of these forms are stamped to indicate work-authorized status.  Form I-94 or I-94A contains an 11-digit admission number that may be used as part of the initial E-Verify case if the noncitizen employee does not have an Alien Registration Number.

C

This response is given if the Social Security Administration (SSA) or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) needs more than 10 federal government working days to provide a final case result. Employers may not terminate or take any other adverse action against an employee (such as denying work, delaying training, withholding pay, or otherwise assuming that they are not authorized to work) because of the mismatch, if the mismatch becomes a Final Nonconfirmation, the employer may terminate the employee.

This response is given if the user abandons a case after the Check Information screen or the photo matching screen appears. The user will need to continue the case or close it.

An individual or company that hires an E-Verify employer agent to create cases on their behalf.

The step in the verification process when either a final result has been provided or the user no longer needs to continue the verification and the case is ready to be closed.

This case result means SSA or DHS needs the case to be closed and the employer should create and submit another case. This result may be issued when the employee’s U.S. Passport, Passport Card, or Driver’s License information is incorrect.

The E-Verify company ID number has 4 to 7 digits and is located on each page of the memorandum of understanding (MOU), directly below the E-Verify logo. Program administrators may also obtain the company ID number from the Company Information page in E-Verify under Edit Company Profile.

Corporate administrator access is used only for managing multiple employer accounts and doesn’t allow corporate administrator users to create and manage E-Verify cases. New corporate administrators must attend a free, regularly scheduled web-based training session before their accounts are activated.

D

A response received when the employee did not contact the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resolve his or her case and 10 federal government workdays have passed since the date of referral. The ‘DHS No Show’ result is considered a final nonconfirmation.

A case result of “DHS Verification in Process” means that the employee’s information did not match U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) records. The case is automatically referred to DHS for further verification. DHS responds to most of these cases within 24 hours, but has up to three federal government workdays to respond. Employers should check the system periodically for response.

Type of document(s) presented by an employee to verify identity and employment eligibility.

E

E-Verify is an Internet-based program in which the employment eligibility of newly hired employees and existing employees assigned to a covered federal contract will be verified after Form I-9 has been completed. This involves separate verification checks (if necessary) of records maintained by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

A unique number assigned to each E-Verify case that is created when an employer submits an initial verification. Employers participating in E-Verify are required to record the E-Verify case number on the employee’s Form I-9 or to print the screen containing the E-Verify case number and attach it to the employee’s Form I-9.

An individual or company that performs E-Verify cases on behalf of employers, formerly referred to as a designated agent.

The E-Verify Participation Notice informs current and prospective employees that a company is participating in the E-Verify Program. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) requires participating employers to display both the English and Spanish versions of the notice in a prominent place that is clearly visible to current and prospective employees.

A document issued to noncitizens that are authorized to work in the United States.

This is a case result received in E-Verify when the information entered for an employee matches Social Security Administration (SSA) or U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) records. This result indicates employment eligibility has been verified.

F

The form employers are required to complete with an employee when they hire an employee to perform labor or services in return for wages or other remuneration.  This requirement applies to all employees hired after November 6, 1986.

A notice generated from E-Verify that the employer must give to an employee whose E-Verify case receives a Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC). Employees who decide to take action on the TNC must contact or visit the appropriate agency within 8 Federal Government working days with this notice to initiate resolution of the E-Verify case.

G

This user type creates cases, views reports and can update his or her user profile.

H

Provides detailed instructions on how to complete and retain Form I-9.

Hire Date is also known as the employee’s first day of employment. Please see Employee’s First Day of Employment for more information.

A hiring site is the location where employees are hired and complete Form I-9. It can also be the verification location if cases are created in E-Verify at the same location.

I

Public Law 104-208 enacted on September 30, 1996 required the Immigration and Naturalization Service to conduct three types of employment authorization verification pilot programs. The ‘basic pilot program’ was one of the three programs and is the only program still in existence. The ‘basic pilot program’ exists today as E-Verify.

Created by Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), within the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, enforces the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 USC 1324b, which prohibits discrimination in hiring and discharging based upon citizenship or immigration status and national origin, and discrimination during the employment eligibility verification process, which includes Form I-9 and E-Verify. 

Public Law 82-414 enacted on June 27, 1952 which, along with other immigration laws, treaties and conventions of the United States, relates to the immigration, temporary admission, naturalization and removal of noncitizens.

Public Law 99-603 enacted on November 6, 1986 sought to eliminate employment opportunity as a key incentive for illegal migration to the United States. IRCA mandates that all U.S. employers verify the employment eligibility and identify of all new hires through completion of the Form I-9. It provides remedies to employees and sanctions against employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers or discriminate against employees based on citizenship or immigration status or based on national origin.

The results displayed in E-Verify once an employee’s information has been submitted as part of a verification case. Initial case results include ‘Employment Authorized,’ ‘Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC)’ and ‘DHS Verification in Process.’

L

A noncitizen who has been lawfully granted the privilege of residing and working permanently in the United States.

M

A legal document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between/among parties. It constitutes a legally binding contract when properly executed (i.e., signed) by all the parties. Employers who participate in E-Verify must sign the E-Verify MOU, the agreement between the employer, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) that sets the terms of conditions of participation in the program.

N

An individual who is not a citizen or national of the United States. “Foreign national” is a synonym and used outside of statutes when referring to noncitizens of the U.S.

A noncitizen who is allowed to work because of his or her immigration status or a noncitizen who is granted employment authorization by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Persons born in American Samoa; certain former citizens of the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands who relinquished their U.S. citizenship acquired under section 301 of Public Law 94-241 (establishing the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) by executing a declaration before an appropriate court that they intended to be noncitizen nationals rather than U.S. citizens; and certain children of noncitizen nationals born abroad.  Generally, noncitizen nationals are American Samoans.

P

Any travel document issued by a competent authority showing the bearer’s origin, identity and nationality, if any, which is valid for the entry of the bearer into a foreign country.

Document issued by the U.S. Department of State to U.S. citizens and noncitizen nationals.

A unique identifier that allows registered E-Verify users access to E-Verify.

Issued by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service after December 1997 and now issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, this card is the current version given to permanent residents. The document is valid for 10 years. In the current version of the Permanent Resident Alien Card (Form I-551), the name of the document was changed from Resident Alien Card to Permanent Resident Card.

A noncitizen who has been lawfully granted the privilege of residing and working permanently in the United States.

The photo on the employee’s document matches the photo supplied by E-Verify. The photo transmitted by E-Verify should be the same (identical) photo that appears on an employee’s U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or U.S. Department of State (DOS) issued document. Employers should be able to determine whether the photos match.

During the verification case, employers match the photos on certain documents provided by employees when completing Form I-9 with the photo that appears in E-Verify. Photo matching is triggered only when an employee has provided a U.S. Passport, Passport Card, Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551) or an Employment Authorization Document (Form I-766) as his or her Form I-9 document.

The photo on the employee’s document does not match the photo supplied by E-Verify. The photo transmitted by E-Verify should be the same (identical) photo that appears on an employee’s U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued document. If the employer determines that it does not match, a “DHS Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC)” case result is issued and the employee is given the opportunity to contest the TNC.

An individual in your company who can be contacted about E-Verify issues. This person may or may not be one of the two user types.

The prohibitive practice of creating a case in E-Verify before a job offer has been accepted and Form I-9 is complete.

This user type creates user accounts at his or her site. This user can view reports, create cases, update account information and unlock user accounts.

R

The Referral Date Confirmation provides an employee the date by which he or she must initiate contact with SSA or DHS to resolve a Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC). Employees have eight federal government workdays from the date of referral to visit SSA or contact DHS.

The Right to Work Poster is published by the Department of Justice, Immigrant and Employee Rights (IER) Section, and provides information to employees concerning discrimination in the workplace. The E-Verify memorandum of understanding (MOU) requires participating employers to clearly display the notice in English and Spanish. Employers may also display the posters in other languages provided by DHS. This notice is available in the View Essential Resources section of E-Verify. For questions about discrimination during the employment eligibility verification process, employers may contact IER at 800-255-8155 or 800-237-2515 (TTY) or visit IER’s website at http://www.justice.gov/ier.

S

The federal government agency that administers a national program of contributory social insurance. SSA and DHS jointly manage the E-Verify program.

After an employee is advised of an SSA Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC) and has signed the SSA TNC Further Action Notice, the employee is referred to SSA to resolve the TNC.

T

A case result provided by E-Verify which means that the employee information submitted to E-Verify was compared to government records and could not be verified. This does not necessarily mean that the employee is not authorized to work, or that the information provided was incorrect. The employee must visit the Social Security Administration (SSA) and/or contact the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resolve the discrepancy and continue employment.

U

The federal government agency that is responsible for international relations. DOS issues U.S. passports and passport cards. U.S. passport and passport card records are available to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for confirmation of employment eligibility within E-Verify.

UEI is a 12-digit alphanumeric identifier that is provided by SAM.gov to all entities who register to do business with the federal government. Learn more about the UEI.

A nine-digit number listed on the front of Permanent Resident Cards (Form I-551) issued after May 10, 2010 that is the same as the Alien number.  The A-number can also be found on the back of these Permanent Resident Cards (Form I-551).

An individual with a corporate administrator, program administrator or general user account assigned for use of E-Verify.

The user ID is an assigned ID with letters and numbers that identifies the user of a computer system or network. All users who create cases in E-Verify must have their own user IDs. The user ID must be eight characters and may be letters, numbers or a combination of both. A user ID is not case-sensitive.

V

A case result of Verification in Process means that DHS cannot verify the data and needs more time. The case is automatically referred for further verification. DHS will respond to most of these cases within 24 hours, although some responses may take up to 3 federal government working days. No action is required by either you or the employee at this time.

Last Reviewed/Updated: