E-Verify.gov now has an online dictionary (glossary). You can use this dictionary to quickly look up a definition or explanation for a topic. Get started by clicking on the letter your word begins with.
A
Documents designated for determining employment eligibility and identity under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) are listed on Form I-9 and in the Handbook for Employers (M-274) found at http://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/handbook-employers-m-274. Employees have the right to choose which document or combination of documents to present. Any List B document presented to an employer participating in E-Verify must contain a photograph.
An 11-digit number found on Form I-94 or Form I-94A Arrival-Departure Record.
A person who operates an airport that serves an aircraft operator or a foreign air carrier required to have a security program under part 1544 or 1546 of Chapter XII, Subtitle B of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
Any person not a citizen or national of the United States as the term “alien” is defined in section 101(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(3)). This term may include a stateless person and is synonymous with “noncitizen” and “foreign national.”
A unique seven-, eight- or nine-digit number assigned to a noncitizen by the Department of Homeland Security or the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Also see USCIS Number.
The Arrival and Departure Record is the I-94 or I-94A, in either paper or electronic format, issued by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer to foreign visitors entering the United States. As of April 30, 2013, most Arrival and/or Departure records are created electronically upon arrival. For more information, see uscis.gov/i-94information.
C
This response is given if the Social Security Administration (SSA) or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) needs more than 10 federal government working days to provide a final case result. Employers may not terminate or take any other adverse action against an employee (such as denying work, delaying training, withholding pay, or otherwise assuming that they are not authorized to work) because of the mismatch, if the mismatch becomes a Final Nonconfirmation, the employer may terminate the employee.
This response is given if the user abandons a case after the Check Information screen or the photo matching screen appears. The user will need to continue the case or close it.
An individual or company that hires an E-Verify employer agent to create cases on their behalf.
The step in the verification process when either a final result has been provided or the user no longer needs to continue the verification and the case is ready to be closed.
This case result means SSA or DHS needs the case to be closed and the employer should create and submit another case. This result may be issued when the employee’s U.S. Passport, Passport Card, or Driver’s License information is incorrect.
The E-Verify company ID number has 4 to 7 digits and is located on each page of the memorandum of understanding (MOU), directly below the E-Verify logo. Program administrators may also obtain the company ID number from the Company Information page in E-Verify under Edit Company Profile.
Corporate administrator access is used only for managing multiple employer accounts and doesn’t allow corporate administrator users to create and manage E-Verify cases. New corporate administrators must attend a free, regularly scheduled web-based training session before their accounts are activated.
D
A response received when the employee did not contact the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resolve his or her case and 10 federal government workdays have passed since the date of referral. The ‘DHS No Show’ result is considered a final nonconfirmation.
An individual or company enrolled in E-Verify. The two types of access methods are:
- Employer- Most E-Verify participants, regardless of their business size or structure, are enrolled under the employer access method. This access method is used by the registered users of E-Verify employers and can include their human resources staff to electronically confirm the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees and/or employees assigned to a covered federal contract.
- E-Verify Employer Agent- The E-Verify employer agent access method allows an individual or company to act on behalf of other employers to confirm the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees and/or employees assigned to a covered federal contract. For more information, visit Using an E-Verify Employer Agent.
Type of document(s) presented by an employee to verify identity and employment eligibility.
E
E-Verify is an Internet-based system that compares information entered by an employer from an employee’s Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to records available to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to help confirm employment eligibility.
A unique number assigned to each E-Verify case that is created when an employer submits an initial verification. Employers participating in E-Verify are required to record the E-Verify case number on the employee’s Form I-9 or to print the screen containing the E-Verify case number and attach it to the employee’s Form I-9.
An individual or company that performs E-Verify cases on behalf of employers, formerly referred to as a designated agent.
A case result of E-Verify Needs More Time means that the employee’s information did not match U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) records. The case is automatically referred to DHS for further verification. DHS responds to most of these cases within 24 hours. Employers should check the system periodically for a response.
The E-Verify Participation Notice informs current and prospective employees that a company is participating in the E-Verify Program. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) requires participating employers to display both the English and Spanish versions of the notice in a prominent place that is clearly visible to current and prospective employees.
An individual with a corporate administrator, program administrator, or general user account for E-Verify.
A person or entity that conducts hiring. As used in this document, “employer” means a person or other entity that participates in E-Verify.
A general term used to describe a card USCIS issues on Form I-766, Employment Authorization document (EAD), to noncitizens who are authorized to work in the United States. The card contains a photograph of the individual and sometimes a fingerprint. An noncitizen who has an EAD usually has open-market employment authorization, but there are exceptions.
This is a case result received in E-Verify when the information entered for an employee matches Social Security Administration (SSA) or U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) records. This result indicates employment eligibility has been verified.
An employer who has enrolled in E-Verify and has agreed to the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
F
Citizen satisfaction with overall federal government services, programs, websites of all federal agencies. Scores from each federal department are used to calculate the Federal Gov Average.
If an employee’s employment eligibility cannot be verified based on the information submitted to E-Verify, or the employee failed to visit SSA and/or call DHS within 8 federal government workdays after referral, the employer will receive a Final Nonconfirmation case result in E-Verify. An employer receiving a Final Nonconfirmation response may terminate the employee and will not be civilly or criminally liable for the termination, as long as the action was taken in good faith reliance on the information provided through E Verify as noted in in “Responsibilities of the Employer,” Article II, Section A paragraph 13 of the MOU.
The form employers are required to complete with an employee when they hire an employee to perform labor or services in return for wages or other remuneration. This requirement applies to all employees hired after November 6, 1986.
A notice generated from E-Verify that the employer must give to an employee whose E-Verify case receives a Tentative Nonconfirmation (Mismatch). Employees who decide to take action on the Mismatch must contact or visit the appropriate agency within eight federal government working days with this notice to initiate resolution of the E-Verify case.
The total number of cases created in E-Verify for the 2024 fiscal year.
G
This user type creates and manages cases, views reports and updates their own user profile.
H
Provides detailed instructions on how to complete and retain Form I-9.
Hire Date is also known as the employee’s first day of employment. Please see Employee’s First Day of Employment for more information.
A location associated with an MOU where employees are hired and complete Form I-9. It can also be the verification location if cases are created in E-Verify at the same location.
I
Public Law 104-208 enacted on September 30, 1996 required the Immigration and Naturalization Service to conduct three types of employment authorization verification pilot programs. The ‘basic pilot program’ was one of the three programs and is the only program still in existence. The ‘basic pilot program’ exists today as E-Verify.
Public Law 82-414 enacted on June 27, 1952 which, along with other immigration laws, treaties and conventions of the United States, relates to the immigration, temporary admission, naturalization and removal of noncitizens.
A law enacted in an effort to deter illegal immigration to the United States. One of the law’s strategies was to discourage unauthorized employment, which was viewed as a significant magnet for illegal immigration. Because of IRCA, employers must verify the identity and employment eligibility of employees to work in the United States. The IRCA imposes penalties on employers that knowingly employ persons not authorized to work in the United States or that fail to comply with employment eligibility verification requirements.
The results displayed in E-Verify once an employee’s information has been submitted as part of a verification case. Initial case results include ‘Employment Authorized,’ ‘Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC)’ and ‘DHS Verification in Process.’
Certain initial E-Verify results that require additional action before E-Verify can provide a final case result. Interim case results include Tentative Nonconfirmation, Verification in Process, and Case in Continuance.
L
A noncitizen who has been lawfully granted the privilege of residing and working permanently in the United States.
M
A legal document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between/among parties. It constitutes a legally binding contract when properly executed (i.e., signed) by all the parties. Employers who participate in E-Verify must sign the E-Verify MOU, the agreement between the employer, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) that sets the terms of conditions of participation in the program.
N
Citizen satisfaction with overall economy-wide products and services. Scores from each industry are used to calculate the National Average.
A person without U.S. citizenship or nationality (may include a stateless person). This term is synonymous with “foreign national” and with “alien” as defined in section 101(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(3)).
A noncitizen who is allowed to work because of his or her immigration status or a noncitizen who is granted employment authorization by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Persons born in American Samoa; certain former citizens of the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands who relinquished their U.S. citizenship acquired under section 301 of Public Law 94-241 (establishing the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) by executing a declaration before an appropriate court that they intended to be noncitizen nationals rather than U.S. citizens; and certain children of noncitizen nationals born abroad. Generally, noncitizen nationals are American Samoans.
P
Any travel document issued by a competent authority showing the bearer’s origin, identity and nationality, if any, which is valid for the entry of the bearer into a foreign country.
Document issued by the U.S. Department of State to U.S. citizens and noncitizen nationals.
Also known as a Green Card or alien registration card, this card is issued by USCIS to aliens as evidence of their lawful permanent resident status in the United States. For Form I-9, it is acceptable as proof of identity and employment authorization. Although some Permanent Resident Cards contain no expiration date, most are valid for 10 years. Cards held by individuals with conditional permanent resident status are valid for two years.
A noncitizen who has been lawfully granted the privilege of residing and working permanently in the United States.
During the verification case, employers match the photos on certain documents provided by employees when completing Form I-9 with the photo that appears in E-Verify. Photo matching is triggered only when an employee has provided a U.S. Passport, Passport Card, Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551) or an Employment Authorization Document (Form I-766) as their Form I-9 document.The photo transmitted by E-Verify should be the same (identical) photo that appears on an employee’s document. Employers should be able to determine whether the photos match.
The photo on the employee’s document does not match the photo supplied by E-Verify. The photo transmitted by E-Verify should be the same (identical) photo that appears on an employee’s U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued document. If the employer determines that it does not match, a “DHS Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC)” case result is issued and the employee is given the opportunity to contest the TNC.
An individual in your company who can be contacted about E-Verify issues. This person may or may not be one of the two user types.
The prohibitive practice of creating a case in E-Verify before a job offer has been accepted and Form I-9 is complete.
This user type creates user accounts at his or her site. This user can view reports, create cases, update account information and unlock user accounts.
R
The Referral Date Confirmation provides an employee the date by which he or she must initiate contact with SSA or DHS to resolve a Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC). Employees have eight federal government workdays from the date of referral to visit SSA or contact DHS.
The Right to Work Poster is published by the Department of Justice, Immigrant and Employee Rights (IER) Section, and provides information to employees concerning discrimination in the workplace. The E-Verify memorandum of understanding (MOU) requires participating employers to clearly display the notice in English and Spanish. Employers may also display the posters in other languages provided by DHS. This notice is available in the View Essential Resources section of E-Verify. For questions about discrimination during the employment eligibility verification process, employers may contact IER at 800-255-8155 or 800-237-2515 (TTY) or visit IER’s website at http://www.justice.gov/ier.
S
After an employee is advised of an SSA Tentative Nonconfirmation (Mismatch) and has signed the SSA mismatch Further Action Notice, the employee is referred to SSA to resolve the mismatch.
A Department of Homeland Security database developed to collect information on the F, M, and J visa holders.
Unique identifier printed on each Form I-20 or Form DS-2019 in the top corner, which consists of an alphabetic character (N) and up to 11 numbers (for example, N0000000000)
SAVE is a program that enables federal, state and local benefit-issuing agencies to obtain immigration status information to determine applicants' eligibility for many public benefits.
T
A case result provided by E-Verify which means that the employee information submitted to E-Verify by the employer was compared to government records available to DHS and could not be confirmed. This does not necessarily mean that the employee is not authorized to work, or that the information provided was incorrect. The employee must contact the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and/or visit the Social Security Administration (SSA) if they choose to resolve the mismatch.
U
UEI is a 12-digit alphanumeric identifier that is provided by SAM.gov to all entities who register to do business with the federal government. Learn more about the UEI.
The total number of employers with an MOU who created a case in E-Verify within the last 365 days. Non-use of E-Verify within the last 365 days does not necessarily indicate that an employer is out of compliance, as they may not have made any hires during this time period.
A nine-digit number listed on the front of Permanent Resident Cards (Form I-551) issued after May 10, 2010 that is the same as the Alien number. The A-number can also be found on the back of these Permanent Resident Cards (Form I-551).
E-Verify users can have one of two roles: program administrator or general user. An employer enrolled in E- Verify must have at least one program administrator and can have as many general users as needed. All users are responsible for following all E-Verify program rules and staying informed of changes to E-Verify policies and procedures. All users have the following permissions:
- Create and manage cases
- View reports
- Update own user profile
The user ID is an assigned ID with letters and numbers that identifies the user of a computer system or network. All users who create cases in E-Verify must have their own user IDs. The user ID must be eight characters and may be letters, numbers or a combination of both. A user ID is not case-sensitive.
V
The Verification Division administers the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) verification programs involving customer access to the Verification Information System (VIS) database. The Verification Division, within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, administers the E-Verify program, which enables employers to quickly and easily verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees. In addition, the Verification Division administers the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program.
A verification location is where the employer takes the information from an employee’s Form I-9 and creates a case in E-Verify. Generally, each verification location has its own employer account.