What Is an E-Verify SSA or DHS Final Nonconfirmation?

An E-Verify Final Nonconfirmation is the closed-case result the system returns when the Social Security Administration or the Department of Homeland Security could not confirm an employee’s work authorization after the mismatch resolution process ran its course.¹ It closes the E-Verify case, gives the employer legal cover to terminate, and creates serious exposure if the employer keeps the worker on payroll without telling DHS. It is not, on its own, a permanent finding that the employee cannot work in the United States. A further review is still possible.

How a Case Reaches Final Nonconfirmation

Every Final Nonconfirmation starts as a Tentative Nonconfirmation, or mismatch. A mismatch means the data the employer entered from the Form I-9 doesn’t line up with SSA or DHS records, and it is not a finding that the employee is unauthorized.² The employee gets a Further Action Notice, has 10 federal government working days to say whether they will contest, and if they contest must contact DHS or visit an SSA field office within 8 federal government working days after referral.

There are only three ways that process ends in a Final Nonconfirmation:¹

The employee contacted SSA or DHS during the mismatch period, but the agency still could not confirm work authorization.
The employee chose to contest but did not visit SSA or contact DHS within the 8 working days after referral.
The employee never told the employer whether they would take action, and the 10 working days ran out.

SSA Final Nonconfirmation vs DHS Final Nonconfirmation

The label follows the agency whose records triggered the original mismatch. An SSA Final Nonconfirmation means the Social Security Administration could not verify identity information such as name, date of birth, Social Security number, or citizenship status against its records. A DHS Final Nonconfirmation means immigration-related information, typically a passport, immigration document number, or status, could not be verified. Some employees receive a dual mismatch from both agencies at the same time, and each has to be resolved on its own track.³

Most underlying causes are clerical rather than substantive. SSA mismatches often trace to a typo in the employee’s name or Social Security number, a name change after marriage or divorce that was never reported to SSA, or a citizenship update that hasn’t reached SSA’s records. DHS mismatches tend to involve data-entry errors, incorrect document numbers, or immigration status that hasn’t been updated in the system.⁴

What an Employee Can Do After a Final Nonconfirmation

A Final Nonconfirmation closes the specific E-Verify case. It does not permanently bar you from working in the United States, and you still have a path to challenge or fix the result.

You or your employer can request a further review by calling E-Verify at 1-888-464-4218.⁵ If DHS or SSA determines during that review that the Final Nonconfirmation was issued in error, the result can be corrected. Ask your employer for a copy of the Final Nonconfirmation Notice; it contains specifics about what you can do next.

Separately, address the underlying record. If SSA’s records are wrong, visit your local Social Security office with your identity documents so SSA can verify and correct them.⁶ If the problem is on the immigration side, an immigration attorney can help you sort out your DHS records. Fixing the underlying record won’t reopen the closed case, but it prevents the same result at your next job.

One thing worth knowing about the earlier stage: during the mismatch resolution period, before any Final Nonconfirmation, your employer cannot fire you, suspend you, cut your pay, delay training, or take any other negative action based on the mismatch.² If that happened to you before the case reached Final Nonconfirmation, it may itself be a violation.

What the Employer Has to Do

Once E-Verify returns a Final Nonconfirmation, the employer must close the case in E-Verify.¹ The E-Verify Memorandum of Understanding that every participating employer signs states that the employer may terminate employment based on a Final Nonconfirmation without civil or criminal liability under the MOU.⁷ Most employers do terminate at this point, because the alternative carries real risk.

An employer that decides to keep the worker on payroll after a Final Nonconfirmation must notify DHS that it is continuing the employment. Failing to notify DHS carries a civil penalty of $550 to $1,100 for each failure.⁷ Continuing the employment also creates a rebuttable presumption that the employer knowingly hired an unauthorized worker in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Rebuttable means the employer can try to overcome it with evidence, but the burden has shifted: the government does not have to prove knowledge, the employer has to disprove it.

Penalties If the Employer Keeps an Unauthorized Worker

If that presumption sticks, the consequences go well beyond the MOU’s notification fine. Federal law imposes civil penalties per unauthorized worker, escalating with prior offenses:⁸

First offense: $716 to $5,724 per unauthorized worker.
Second offense: $5,724 to $14,308 per unauthorized worker.
Third or subsequent offense: $8,586 to $28,619 per unauthorized worker.

Those are the inflation-adjusted figures effective January 2025 and they adjust annually, so amounts in effect at the time of assessment may be slightly higher.⁹ Employers who engage in a pattern of violations also face criminal prosecution, with fines up to $3,000 per unauthorized worker and up to six months in prison.⁸

Discrimination Limits Still Apply

Even when a Final Nonconfirmation gives an employer grounds to terminate, the employer must handle E-Verify the same way for everyone. The Department of Justice’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section enforces 8 U.S.C. § 1324b, which prohibits discrimination in the employment verification process.¹⁰ Running E-Verify selectively on employees who appear foreign, demanding specific documents rather than accepting any valid Form I-9 document, or applying the mismatch and Final Nonconfirmation process differently based on citizenship or national origin can each trigger a complaint. The Further Action Notice must be provided in English and, where appropriate, in a translated version.¹¹

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E-Verify. 3.6 Final Nonconfirmation
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E-Verify. Tentative Nonconfirmations (Mismatches)
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E-Verify. 3.3 Tentative Nonconfirmation (Mismatch)
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E-Verify. DHS and SSA Mismatches
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E-Verify. Verification Process
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Social Security Administration. What Should I Do if My Employees Name and Social Security Number Do Not Match Internal Revenue Service Records
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E-Verify. The E-Verify Memorandum of Understanding for Employers
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 US Code 1324a – Unlawful Employment of Aliens
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Federal Register. Civil Monetary Penalty Adjustments for Inflation
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U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section. IER Identifying Possible E-Verify Related Employment Discrimination
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E-Verify. Employee Rights and Responsibilities