Employers
Form I-9
Even though Form I-9 support representatives were unavailable during the lapse in government appropriations and E-Verify service was disrupted, employers were still required to complete and retain Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, for every person hired for employment in the U.S. during that time, as long as the person works for wages or other remuneration.
E-Verify
Creating Cases
Now that E-Verify operations have resumed, employers who participate in E-Verify must create an E-Verify case by February 11, 2019 for each employee hired while E-Verify was not available. You must use the hire date from the employee’s Form I-9 when creating the E-Verify case. If the case creation date is more than three days following the date the employee began working for pay, select “Other” from the drop-down list and enter “E-Verify Not Available” as the specific reason.
Tentative Nonconfirmations
If your employee received a TNC and notified you of his or her intention to contest it by February 11, 2019, you must revise the date by which your employee must contact the Social Security Administration (SSA) or DHS to begin resolving the TNC. To do this, add 10 federal business days to the date on your employee’s “Referral Date Confirmation” notice. Federal business days are Monday through Friday and do not include federal holidays. Give the revised notice to your employee.
You may reprint a copy of your employee’s “Referral Date Confirmation” by logging in to E-Verify, selecting your employee’s case and selecting the “Print Confirmation” button. Be sure to cross out the old date and insert the new date. Employees have until this new date to contact the SSA or DHS to resolve their cases, as applicable.
For TNC cases that were referred after E-Verify resumed operations, do not add days to the time your employee has to contact either SSA or DHS. If your employee decided to contest the TNC when E-Verify was unavailable, you should now refer the employee’s case and follow the TNC process.
Federal Contractor Deadlines
During the DHS lapse in appropriations E-Verify was not available for federal contractor enrollment or use. As a result, DHS guidance is that any calendar day during which E-Verify was unavailable due to the lapse in appropriations should not count towards the federal contractor deadlines found in the Employment Eligibility Verification Federal Acquisition Regulation. Please contact your contracting officer for more information on federal contractor responsibilities.
Web Service Clients
E-Verify will resume operations following the temporary re-opening of the government. While all E-Verify features and services, including the ability to resolve a Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC) will be available over the next few days, you may experience longer-than-usual processing times as we work through a large volume of accumulated cases. You may receive a response that we are working on your submission. Thank you again for your patience and support of the E-Verify program.
Employees
If the lapse in appropriations prevented you from contesting your Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC), you will be allowed additional time to contact the Social Security Administration (SSA) or DHS to begin the process of resolving your TNC. If your referral date confirmation was received by February 11, 2019, you should:
- Add 10 federal business days to the date printed on the “Referral Date Confirmation” that your employer provided you after you contested your TNC. Federal business days are Monday through Friday and do not include federal holidays. You may also contact your employer if you are unsure of the new date by which you must contact either SSA or DHS to resolve your TNC.
- Contact either SSA or DHS by the new date to begin the process of resolving your TNC.
For more information about contesting your TNC, please refer to E-Verify’s employee page.
E-Verify Support
Because of the recent interruption of service resulting from a lapse in government appropriations, E-Verify support expects an increase in requests for assistance. Due to this increase, you may experience longer than normal delays and response times. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience. For any questions or additional information about the unavailability of E-Verify, please email e-verify@uscis.dhs.gov. For questions about Form I-9, please visit I-9 Central or email I-9central@uscis.dhs.gov. Employers and employees may also contact E-Verify at 888-464-4218 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Eastern).