myE-Verify Questions and Answers

An individual’s work authorization, or employment eligibility, refers to his or her legal right to work in the United States. U.S. citizens, born or naturalized, are always authorized to work in the United States, while foreign citizens may be authorized if they have an immigration status that allows them to work.

No one can require you to use Self Check to guarantee that you are authorized to work. For example, it is unlawful for a potential employer to require proof of your Self Check results before offering you a job.

If an employer asks you to run a Self Check query to prove that you are authorized to work in the United States, you should notify the Department of Justice, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) at (800) 255-7688.

For more information, refer to the Know Your Rights page from the link in the left navigation bar.

No. myE-Verify does not enable you to make changes to your citizenship or immigration status. For more information on correcting your immigration record, visit How to Correct Your Immigration Record (e-verify.gov)

 No. You must pass the quiz in order to create a secure myE-Verify account.

You initially get two chances to pass the quiz. If you fail the quiz the first time, the second quiz is immediately available. If you fail the second quiz, you’ll have to wait 3 days before you can log back in to myE‑Verify with the username and password you created to have another two chances to pass the quiz.

No. You can only use Self Check to verify your own employment eligibility. The Self Check service includes an identity assurance feature – a quiz you must pass to establish your identity – that is designed to prevent users from verifying the eligibility of others.

The FCRA and its related regulations apply to information from consumer reports by consumer reporting agencies. USCIS is not a consumer reporting agency, and E-Verify information provided to E-Verify employers by USCIS is not consumer information reported under the FCRA. Form I-9 information provided to the employer by the employee is also not part of any consumer report from a consumer reporting agency.

E-Verify is an internet-based program that employers can use to verify the employment eligibility of their employees after an offer of employment has been accepted.

Self Check is designed to provide U.S. workers with the results of an E-Verify check before beginning a new job. It gives you insight into the employment eligibility process and confidence that the results given to your employer will be accurate.

For more information, please visit the E-Verify website.

Self Check may issue a Tentative Nonconfirmation (Mismatch) result for your case if your name, Social Security number, date of birth, or other information do not match government records.

If your Self Check case receives a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and/or Social Security Administration (SSA) mismatch result, you can choose to take action to resolve it.

To avoid a mismatch:

• Make sure your documents and records are accurate before you complete a Self Check case;
• Inform SSA if you have changed your name;
• If there is a spelling error or incorrect date of birth on your document, contact the agency that issued the document to correct the error;
• If you have two first names, enter both when you complete Self Check; and
• If your full legal name includes an apostrophe (‘) or hyphen (-), make sure you include it when you complete Self Check.

Related Resources

Social Security Administration Resumes E-Verify Operations

• Copy the front and back of each document;
• Scan all the pages into one PDF file, not to exceed 4 MB; and
• Upload the PDF file containing multiple documents and submit.

Create a free myE-Verify account by confirming security details, creating additional layers of security, providing your email address, and inputting your Social Security number.  Keep in mind new users must pass an identity quiz generated by secure details of credit history in the United States.

Self Check is a feature available to anyone with a myE-Verify account.  After you submit a Self Check case for yourself, the system will compare your document information to records held at the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security.  You will see the response an E-Verify employer would see after creating a case using your personal information.

myE-Verify requires the creation of an  myUSCIS account.  During this process, you provide an email address, create a password, select a two-step verification method, and provide password reset answers.  To access myE-Verify you will also have to pass the identity verification process.  Your identity is verified by information confirmed by Experian.  In order for Experian to provide the knowledge-based assessment quiz you will need to have a credit history in the United States.

During the Self Check process, the personal information you provide may be stored by up to three separate systems as described below.

The Self Check service collects the information that you provide and passes it to either an independent service for identity assurance or to the E-Verify Program for a check of your employment eligibility. The Self Check service does not keep a record of your personal information any longer than necessary, and purges all personal information used in the identity assurance process at the end of your session. For example, your address is no longer stored by Self Check after the identity assurance process, as it is not needed later in the process.

The independent identity assurance service stores your personal information for one year as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Your information is never shared except where required by law.

USCIS actively monitors the system to prevent misuse.

If you receive a Self Check mismatch from both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) you have 8 federal government working days to contact both agencies to take action to resolve the mismatch. You should receive a Further Action Notice with instructions telling you how to contact DHS and visit SSA in person to resolve the mismatch.

Related Resources

Social Security Administration Resumes E-Verify Operations

For a DHS Self Check mismatch, you must contact DHS or use your myE-Verify account to electronically submit documents to DHS that show your employment authorization within 8 federal government working days. To do this:

1. Log in to myE-Verify at https://myeverify.uscis.gov;
2. Click on myUploads and enter your E-Verify case number; 
3. Upload your documents not exceeding 4MB in a .jpg, .jpeg, .png, or .pdf format; and
4. Call DHS at 888-897-7781 (TTY: 877-875-6028) and tell the representative that you uploaded documents for your case.

Have your Further Action Notice open when you call DHS, so that you can refer to it.

If you receive a Self Check mismatch from the Social Security Administration (SSA) you have 8 federal government working days to contact SSA to take action to resolve the mismatch. You should receive a Further Action Notice with instructions telling you how to visit SSA in person to resolve the mismatch.

The government records used by E-Verify and Self Check are generally accurate and few people have any problems identified by E-Verify. In fact, E-Verify finds about 97% of the work force to be employment authorized.

Depending on your citizenship or immigrant status, there are several alternatives to using Self Check to confirm your employment eligibility. The following methods may be used to gain access to your government records to ensure their accuracy.

• Wait until an employer checks your employment eligibility through E-Verify: Some companies use the E-Verify Program to check the work eligibility of their new hires. If there is an issue with your records, your employer will inform you of the next steps at that time.
• Contact the Social Security Administration: If you would like to check your records with the Social Security Administration, please contact their toll-free number at 1-800-772-1213 or call or visit your local Social Security office. Social Security can handle most inquiries over the telephone.
• Contact the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Contact Center: Call the Contact Center to check the accuracy of your immigration records and to determine next steps with an immigration specialist. Noncitizens may contact the Contact Center at (800) 375-5283, TTY (800) 767-1833.

You are not required to take action after receiving a mismatch from Self Check. However, taking action to resolve your mismatch with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and/or the Social Security Administration (SSA) can help ensure your records that E-Verify accesses properly reflect you are eligible to work in the United States.

Ensure your Further Action Notice shows your correct name, date of birth, Social Security number, and document information. If your information is not correct, you should select the option to create a new case with the correct information. See the table below to proceed with your Self Check mismatch.

No. The results from Self Check are not an official document or record of your work authorization status. Many things may happen to change your status, such as a change in citizenship status or the expiration of an immigration status, like a visa expiration.