E-Verify Is Down, What Do Employers Need to Do?

Due to the partial shutdown of the government, which in turn occurred because Congress and the White House could not agree how to fund certain agencies, funding and congressional authorization for E-Verify ended December 22, 2018 and has not yet renewed for the 2019 fiscal year. While this shutdown is happening, employers will not be able to enroll workers in the E-Verify program, initiate queries, access cases, or resolve tentative nonconfirmations (TNCs).

It has been reported from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that employers will not be penalized for any delays in creating E-Verify cases due to the system being shut down. They will still be required to submit completed I-9s within their normal timeframe (3 days after hire). The standard deadline of 8 federal business days to work on TNCs has also been extended to compensate for this.

Proliant E-Hire/Onboarding service clients also don’t have to worry; E-Verify is the very last step during the process. Once they reach the “Submit to E-Verify” step they are free to stop the process there and resume after the shutdown is over.

According to e-verify.gov, E-Verify “is an Internet-based system that compares information from your Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) records to confirm that you are authorized to work in the United States. Though participation in E-Verify is required of some employers, most employers participate voluntarily.” Once an employee accepts a new employment offer and completes Form I-9, their employer takes the Form I-9 information and enters into E-Verify. E-Verify then compares your information against records available to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and provides the employer with a case result within 3-5 seconds.

Still worried about E-Verify? Check out how our E-Hire & Onboarding solutions can help make managing this process as painless as possible: CLICK HERE