E-Verify checks whether a newly hired employee is legally authorized to work in the United States. It does this by comparing the information on the employee’s Form I-9 against records held by the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.1E-Verify. E-Verify Overview That is the entire scope of the check: identity and work authorization, confirmed against two sets of federal records, usually in seconds.
The Information Fed Into the System
Everything E-Verify checks starts with Form I-9. The employee completes that form on or shortly after their first day, and the employer types the relevant fields into E-Verify. The data points are:
- Full legal name
- Date of birth
- Social Security number
- Citizenship or immigration status
- For noncitizens, the applicable immigration identification number2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1324a – Unlawful Employment of Aliens
The employee also has to present documents proving identity and work authorization. One option is a single List A document that shows both, such as a U.S. passport, Permanent Resident Card, or Employment Authorization Document. The other is a pair: a List B identity document (like a state driver’s license) plus a List C work-authorization document (like an unrestricted Social Security card).
For employers enrolled in E-Verify, any List B document has to include a photograph. That is stricter than the baseline Form I-9 rule, which lets a List B document rely on identifying information alone. Congress wrote the photo requirement into the program when it was created in 1996.3E-Verify. Why Does DHS Require an Employer to Only Accept List B Documents That Contain a Photo
The employer must create the E-Verify case no later than the third business day after the employee starts work for pay.4E-Verify. 2.2 Create a Case
The Federal Databases It Checks
Once a case is submitted, E-Verify queries government records in two stages.
Social Security Administration Records
The first check runs against SSA records. The system confirms that the Social Security number is valid and that the name and date of birth entered match the person to whom the number was issued.1E-Verify. E-Verify Overview If SSA records also confirm U.S. citizenship, the case often resolves at this point without any further check.
Department of Homeland Security Records
When the employee is a noncitizen, or when SSA data alone cannot confirm work authorization, the query expands to DHS. That pulls in records held by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. Customs and Border Protection: naturalization records, permanent resident status, employment authorization documents, and arrival-departure records. The system cross-references visa expiration dates and status changes to decide whether the person currently holds valid work authorization. Results usually come back within three to five seconds.1E-Verify. E-Verify Overview
Every employer in the United States must complete Form I-9 for each new hire regardless of whether they use E-Verify. E-Verify is an electronic layer that sits on top of that existing requirement.5Social Security Administration. Additional Verification Options
Photo Matching for Four Specific Documents
Four documents trigger an extra step called photo matching:
- U.S. passport
- U.S. passport card
- Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551)
- Employment Authorization Document (Form I-766)
When the employee presents one of these, E-Verify displays the official government photo on the employer’s screen. The employer compares that image to the photo on the physical document handed over.6E-Verify. Photo Matching The comparison is document-to-record, not face-to-record. A mismatch suggests the physical document may have been altered or counterfeited.
Photo matching also comes with a paperwork step. The employer has to copy the front and back of the document (for a U.S. passport, the ID page and the barcode page) and keep those copies with the employee’s Form I-9.7E-Verify. E-Verify Photo Matching
What E-Verify Does Not Check
The scope is narrow, and it helps to be specific about what is left out. E-Verify does not run a criminal background check. It does not pull credit history. It does not verify education, degrees, or professional licenses. It says nothing about drug testing.1E-Verify. E-Verify Overview An employer who needs any of those has to use a separate service.
E-Verify also cannot guarantee that the person holding the documents is the person the documents describe. Photo matching helps for the four documents listed above, but the system cannot catch every form of identity theft, particularly when someone uses another person’s real, unexpired documents together with the matching Social Security number.
The tool is also free and voluntary for most private employers. Federal contractors whose contracts include the Federal Acquisition Regulation E-Verify clause must use it, and roughly 22 states require at least some employers to enroll, with about nine of those states extending the requirement to all or most private employers.8E-Verify. E-Verify and Form I-99E-Verify. The E-Verify Federal Contractor Rule
What the Check Returns
The database query produces one of a small set of outcomes.
Employment Authorized
The most common result. The employee’s information matched federal records, and the person is confirmed eligible to work. The employer records the case number on or with the Form I-9 and keeps it for the same retention period as the form.10E-Verify. E-Verify Records Retention and Disposal Fact Sheet
Tentative Nonconfirmation (Mismatch)
A mismatch means the information the employer entered did not match SSA records, DHS records, or both.11E-Verify. Tentative Nonconfirmation (Mismatch) Overview It does not mean the employee is unauthorized. Common causes include typos, a name change that has not been reported to SSA, or a lag in DHS records. When both agencies return mismatches, it is called a dual mismatch.
The employer has to tell the employee about the mismatch, and the employee can contest it. Once the case is referred, the employee has eight federal working days to contact DHS or visit an SSA field office to start fixing it.12E-Verify. How Many Days Does My Employee Have to Take Action on Their Mismatch If the records get corrected, the case updates to Employment Authorized. Throughout the process, the employer cannot fire, suspend, delay training, reduce pay, or otherwise penalize the worker because of the mismatch.13E-Verify. Tentative Nonconfirmations (Mismatches)
Final Nonconfirmation
A Final Nonconfirmation appears when E-Verify still cannot confirm eligibility after the employee has contacted the relevant agency, missed the deadline to contact it, or failed to respond to the employer.14E-Verify. 3.6 Final Nonconfirmation The employer must close the case at that point.
Checking Your Own Record Before Applying
Individuals can run their own information through the same databases E-Verify uses. The tool is called Self Check and is available through the myE-Verify portal at no cost.15E-Verify. Self Check It is useful for catching and fixing a record error before it turns into a mismatch on a new job. A Self Check result is not a substitute for a Form I-9 or an employer’s E-Verify case, and no employer can require an applicant or employee to run one.