E-Verify is a U.S. federal program that confirms the eligibility of employees to work in the United States. This is done electronically, by comparing the information submitted in Sections 1 and 2 of the I-9 form against records from the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. [1]
This verification of immigration and work authorization status provides an additional layer of confidence for employers to know that their employees are eligible to work in the United States, meeting federal legal requirements.
Participation in the E-Verify program is voluntary for most businesses. There is one exception where it is required under federal law: it’s mandatory to participate if you have a Federal contract or subcontract [2] (unless you meet an exemption outlined here).
In addition, you may be required to participate in E-Verify under state law [3].
State Mandates for E-Verify [4]:
Alabama: Requires all employers to use E-Verify as of April 2012.
Arizona: Requires all employers to use E-Verify as of 2016.
Colorado: Required for contractors who engage in public contracts for services with a state agency or political subdivision as of 2008.
Florida: Required for all state agencies as of 2011.
Georgia: Required for all public employers, for all private employers with 11 or more employees, and for contractors who perform services with the state for a public employer.
Idaho: Required for all state agencies and contractors if they want to continue receiving economic stimulus benefits as of 2009.
Indiana: Required for all state agencies, political subdivisions, and any companies that have a public contract. Not required for private employers, but highly encouraged, as those who don’t use it may fail to qualify for certain state tax benefits.
Louisiana: Required for all state contractors and their subcontractors.
Minnesota: Required for contractors and vendors who engage in state contracts for services of $50,000 or more. One exemption is for contracts by the State Board of Investment who are excluded from this mandate.
Mississippi: Required for all public and private employers as of 2011.
Missouri: Required for all public employers, and any businesses with state contracts or grants of $5,000 or more.
Nebraska: Required for all public contractors, and any private employers who do state contract work or receive state economic incentives.
North Carolina: Required for counties, cities, and private employers with 25 or more employees (excluding seasonal temporary employees who work for 90 days or less during a 12 month period). Also required for state and county agencies, including universities and community colleges, and contractors who work with state contracts.
Oklahoma: Required for all public employers, contractors, and subcontractors.
Pennsylvania: Required for all public works contractors and subcontractors as of 2013.
South Carolina: Required for all employers as of 2010.
Tennessee: Required for all private employers with 50 or more employees as of 2017.
Texas: Required for all state agencies and institutes of higher education as of 2015.
Utah: Required for all public employers and their contractors/subcontractors who perform services in the state, as well as private employers with 15 or more employees. Utah may allow for the use of the Social Security Number Verification Service in place of E-Verify.
Virginia: Required for all state agencies as of 2012 and any employer with more than 50 employees for the past 12 months who enter into a $50,000+ contract with any state agency as of 2013.
Types of E-Verify Cases
There are eight different case statuses that can come back from E-Verify. They are:
Unconfirmed Data: E-Verify needs confirmation of some of the information provided in the I-9 form. You will review the information provided by the worker and determine if it’s correct or if changes are needed.
Photo Match Required: E-Verify requires a manual review of the photo displayed E-Verify with a photo from the employee’s legal document to ensure that they match. You will compare the two photos to verify that they match. This happens when an employee presents any of the following document types for their Section 1 form and E-Verify's Photo Matching is triggered and finds a mismatch:
Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551 also known as a Green Card)
Employment Authorization Document (Form I-766)
U.S. Passport
U.S. Passport card
Scan and Upload: You have indicated that the photos did not match in the Photo Match Required status. Therefore, the worker must scan and upload new photo documents.
E-Verify Needs More Time (aka Manual Review): E-Verify needs additional time to verify employment eligibility. This happens if eligibility cannot be confirmed instantly, requiring a manual review of government records. This status requires no action, and most cases in this status are updated within 24 hours.
Employment Authorization Confirmed: E-Verify has confirmed that the employee is authorized to work in the United States. The information submitted on the I-9 form matches records from the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. This is the most common case result status, and it usually comes back within seconds of a case being submitted. E-Verify will automatically close the case, and the employee is legally eligible to work.
Close Case and Resubmit: The Social Security Administration or Department of Homeland Security is unable to process this case and confirm employment eligibility. This can happen if an employee’s U.S. passport, passport card, or driver’s license information is incorrect. When the I-9 Center receives a case in this status, it will automatically close the current case and resubmit a new one on behalf of your company.
Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC)/Pending Referral or Case Referred:
[5]The information provided in the I-9 form does not match records available to the Social Security Administration (SSA) and/or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). A mismatch can happen with one of those organizations, or in both (known as a dual mismatch). This doesn’t mean that the employee is not authorized to work in the United States but follow-up action is required for the government to make that confirmation. You will work with the employee to resolve this status. If the employee decides to take action, the case will move into a Referred status. If the employee has chosen not to take action or has not responded, the case will move into a Final Nonconfirmation status.Final Nonconfirmation (FNC):
[6]E-Verify was unable to confirm that the employee is authorized to work in the United States at this time. This can happen after any of the following occurs:The employee contacted DHS or visited an SSA field office during the mismatch referral process, and the office was still unable to verify employment eligibility
The employee did not contact DHS or visit an SSA field office within 8 federal government working days
The employee did not tell you their decision on whether to take action or not within 10 federal government days after a mismatch was sent
Other statuses:
Case of Continuance: E-Verify needs more time to review a case in a TNC status. This status can occur when the employee takes action on a Tentative Nonconfirmation case.
Case Referred to SSA/DHS: E-Verify is working with the employee to resolve their TNC status.
Duplicate Case: Indicates there is a duplicate E-Verify case already existing for the employee. Therefore, a new case cannot be created.
Viewing E-Verify Case Statuses
If your company uses the E-Verify program, then a new case must be created in the E-Verify system every time a new I-9 form is completed. This must be done within three business days of the employee’s start date.
The Fountain I-9 center makes this process easy by automatically creating and submitting a new E-Verify case after Section 2 is completed, no action is needed by a Fountain user!
After a case has been submitted, you can view the status of the case directly within the I-9 Center.
To view E-Verify case statuses, follow the steps below:
Click I-9 Center in the left side panel. You will land on the I-Forms screen by default.
Click the E-Verify tile at the top to see all workers with active E-Verify cases.
To see workers with a Closed Authorized E-Verify status, click the Completed tile.
Workers that have completed their I-9 form but do not yet have an E-Verify case created, will be found in the Pending E-Verify tile. This happens because the worker provided an acceptable document receipt instead of an actual document when completing Section 1. Although this is allowed to complete the I-9 form, E-Verify does not allow receipts. Once the worker receives the actual document within 90 days of their start date, they will provide it to you, and you will remove the Receipt label from their I-9 form. These steps will be covered later in this article. Once this label is removed, the E-Verify case will be automatically created.
Tip:
To see specific E-Verify case statuses, click the E-Verify tile and then apply a filter. This will then search through only the E-Verify tab for workers with that case status.
Taking Action on E-Verify Case Statuses
To see details and take action on case statuses, find the worker in the I-9 Center table and then click the Manage button to the right of their name. If there is a case status that requires action, you will see a Review E-Verify case button and a case status label. Click the button to review the actions required.
You can also take action on case statuses from the main I-9 Forms table by clicking the 3 dots button to the right of a worker's name and then selecting Review E-Verify case in the dropdown list.
So which statuses require action? Remember, not all E-Verify case statuses require action. Only Unconfirmed Data, Photo Match Required, Scan and Upload, Tentative Nonconfirmation, and Final Nonconfirmation statuses require action by you as the employer and/or by the employee. Review the steps required for each of these statuses below:
Unconfirmed Data Steps
Find the employee in the I-9 Forms table and click Manage to the right of their name.
Click Review E-Verify case.
Review the information provided and confirm with the employee if it is correct or if updates are needed
If the information is correct, click Confirm and Send to E-Verify.
If the information is incorrect, update the information directly in the Review E-Verify case screen. Then click Confirm and Send to E-Verify. Fountain also recommends restarting the worker's I-9 form and potentially the W-4 form because these would still have incorrect information.
Photo Match Required Steps
Find the employee in the I-9 Forms table and click Manage to the right of their name.
Click Review E-Verify case.
Compare the two photos in the E-Verify pop-up to verify that they match.
If they do match, click the Yes, the photos match button to notify E-Verify that they can continue reviewing the case.
If the photos do not match, then select the No, the photos do not match button. This will update the case to a status of Scan and Upload.
Important Note:
If the E-Verify pop-up has no photo or an image of something other than a person such as a document, then select the No photo displayed option. This will skip the Photo Matching requirement and notify E-Verify to continue processing the case.
Scan and Upload Steps
Get copies of the document(s) that match the Section 1 selection from the employee.
Find the employee in the I-9 Forms table and click Manage to the right of their name.
Click Review E-Verify case.
Attach and submit copies of the front AND back of the employee’s document electronically.
For passports, you must submit the photo page and the barcode page.
Click Send Photos to E-Verify.
Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC) Steps
Notify the employee of the mismatch result and inform them they will automatically receive a Further Action Notice (FAN) via their worker portal I-9 task.
If needed, set aside time to privately review the Further Action Notice with the employee.
The employee will select one of the following responses on the FAN:
My form I-9 is correct (meaning, there are no errors).
My personal information is incorrect (name, social security number, or date of birth).
My work authorization document number is incorrect (A-Number/USCIS number, Form I-94 number, or foreign passport number).
My supporting documentation information is incorrect (such as their passport number or driver’s license information).
For choice A, the employee then needs to decide whether they want to take action on the Tentative Nonconfirmation or not.
For choices B, C, or D, since there was incorrect information, you will close the current case with a reason of The Information Entered Was Not Correct, and restart the employee’s I-9 form.
Find the employee in the I-9 Forms table and click Manage to the right of their name.
Click Review E-Verify case. The status bar at the top will show the worker's response on the FAN and the action that you need to take.
Important Note:
The employee must inform you of their decision within 10 federal government working days. Otherwise, their case will be automatically closed [7].
Worker Summary = Information is correct. Worker will take action.
Employee Steps
If the employee chooses to take action to resolve the mismatch, they have 8 federal government working days to take one of the following actions
If the DHS flagged the mismatch, the employee needs to call DHS at 888-897-7781. They need to provide the E-Verify case number, which can be found on their Further Action Notice, and their naturalization certificate number OR Alien Number (A-Number).
If the SSA flagged the mismatch, the employee needs to visit an SSA field office (find locations here) to begin resolving the mismatch. The employee will need to bring their Further Action Notice to the field office location.
If E-verify needs more time to review the case after the employee takes action then the case will move to a status of Case in Continuance.
Employer Steps
Find the employee in the I-9 Forms table and click Manage to the right of their name.
Click Review E-Verify case.
Check the I presented the FAN to the employee and informed them of their options checkbox.
Click the Refer Case button. This will update the case status to Case Referred to SSA/DHS. A Referral Date Confirmation document will also autogenerate and be sent to the employee’s Worker Portal I-9 task. This includes the date that the employee must complete their follow-up steps by.
A sample Further Action Notice and Referral Date Confirmation document are found at the bottom of this article.
Worker Summary = Information is correct. Worker will not take action.
If the employee has chosen on the FAN to not take action or you are unable to contact the individual for a response, E-Verify won’t be able to confirm their work authorization.
Not taking Action Employer Steps
Find the employee in the I-9 Forms table and click Manage to the right of their name.
Click Review E-Verify case.
Check the I presented the FAN to the employee and informed them of their options checkbox.
Select that the employee has chosen not to take action on resolving this case
Indicate whether or not you will continue to employ them. If you do continue to employ them, you will need to give a reason why.
Click No Action. The case will move into a status of Final Nonconfirmation.
Worker Summary = Personal Information is incorrect
Incorrect Information Employer Steps
Find the employee in the I-9 Forms table and click Manage to the right of their name.
Click Review E-Verify case.
Check the I presented the FAN to the employee and informed them of their options checkbox.
Close case with a reason of Other. Type other reason of The case is being closed because the data entered is incorrect.
Restart the employee's I-9 form.
Final Nonconfirmation Steps
Find the employee in the I-9 Forms table and click Manage to the right of their name.
Click Review E-Verify case.
Either legally terminate the employment of the worker or continue employment of the worker. If you do choose to continue their employment you must specify a reason when closing the case.
Close case with a reason of Other. Type other reason, “employee is being terminated for FNC” or “employee will continue employment because ___” (include the reason for continuing employment).
Appeals process:
If you or your employee would like to appeal the Final Nonconfirmation result, you can do the following [9]: “Call E-Verify at 1-888-464-4218. In a further review, E-Verify may revisit a case result and issue a Status Update Letter to the employer and employer agent, if applicable, as well as notify you.”
Duplicate Case Alert Steps
Search for the employee in the I-9 Forms table. If you find duplicate records of the employee, find the record that has an active E-Verify case.
Click Manage to the right of that profile’s name.
Click Review E-Verify case.
Close the case with a reason of The case is being closed because another case with the same data already exists.
Document Receipt Resolution to Create E-Verify Case
Remember, if a employee provides an acceptable document receipt instead of an actual document when completing Section 1, an E-Verify case will not be created. This happens because although receipts are allowed to complete the I-9 form, E-Verify does not allow receipt submissions. They must review the actual document.
The employee will be automatically reminded that they must provide the actual document for the receipt within 90 days of their start date. Once they will provide the actual document to you, you will remove the Receipt label from their I-9 form. Once this label is removed, the E-Verify case will be automatically created.
Follow the receipt resolution steps below:
Click I-9 Center in the left side panel.
Click the Manage button to the right of the worker’s name that you need to restart the I-9 for.
Click the More actions button at the top of the page and then Take Action on I-9.
Click Redo 1-9 Employer Section.
Click Edit Documentation.
On the pop-up screen, uncheck the box next to "This is a receipt of a document replacement". This will also remove the word "Receipt" from the document title.
Update the expiration date according to what is on the replacement document you were presented with.
Click Save Changes.
Still within the Take action on I-9 screen, scroll to the bottom and click the Next button in the right corner.
Type your title within the Title field.
Electronically sign in the Signature box.
Scroll to the bottom and click the Finish button. An E-Verify case will be created automatically in states that require E-Verify.
Click the More Actions button and then Take action on I-9 in the dropdown.
Click the Supplemental tab.
Click Add File and attach a photo of the employee's replacement document. Note that the employee cannot see any files you add here- they are for internal use only.
Sources & Document References
[1] E-Verify Guide: PDF on FAQs for using E-Verify
[2] Federal Contractors: information on requirements under the law for federal contractors to utilize E-Verify
[3] E-Verify State Laws: Point on E-Verify historical timeline about state laws in 2021
[4] E-Verify State Mandates: Non-U.S.-government site with an aggregation of current E-Verify state laws
[5] Tentative Nonconfirmations: E-Verify page detailing what a tentative nonconfirmation is, and how it can happen
[6] Processing a Tentative Nonconfirmation: E-Verify page listing next steps for what to do in the event of a Tentative nonconfirmation
[7] Confirm Employee Decision: E-Verify page outlining the requirements for confirming an employee's decision on their TNC case
[8] Final Nonconfirmation: E-Verify page with information on what a Final nonconfirmation status means, and next steps
[9] Sample Further Action Notice document (PDF)
[10] Sample Referral Date Confirmation document (PDF)
Related Articles
⬅️ Previous article: Supplement B
Sample Further Action Notice [9] and Referral Date Confirmation documents [10]: