Form I-9 & E-Verify Process

Table of Contents

• E-Verify Background
• How Does E-Verify Work?
• Form I-9 and E-Verify
• Verification Process Overview
• Reviewing a Submitted Form I-9
• List A Document Compatibility Chart
• E-Verify Case Results
  • Employment Authorized
  • E-Verify Needs More Time
  • Tentative Nonconfirmation (Mismatch)
  • Case in Continuance
  • Close Case and Resubmit
  • Final Nonconfirmation
• Admin Videos
• E-Verify Status Flowchart

E-Verify Background

• In 1996, Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), which required the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) to develop an employment confirmation process now known as E-Verify.
  • The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is a US federal executive department responsible for homeland security, including counterterrorism, border security, immigration and customs enforcement, cybersecurity, and disaster preparedness.
  • The Social Security Administration (SSA) assigns Social Security numbers and manages the program's finances and trust fund.
  • Using the information provided by DHS and SSA, E-Verify verifies an employee's ability to work in the United States. The E-Verify system helps ensure that businesses are complying with employment laws and reduces the risk of hiring unauthorized workers.
• E-Verify is used to electronically confirm the identity of newly hired employees in the United States.

How Does E-Verify Work?

• E-Verify works by electronically comparing the information from an employee's Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, with official government records that E-Verify can access to verify the identity and employment eligibility of each newly hired employee.

Form I-9 and E-Verify

• All employers in the United States are required to complete Form I-9 within three business days after their employee’s first day of employment and keep a record of Form I-9 on file. An I-9 is required even if an employer does not participate in E-Verify.
• E-Verify is an additional step used to electronically confirm that the employee's Form I-9 information matches official government records that E-Verify can access. This helps ensure a legal workforce.

Form I-9

Section 1 - Overview

• Newly hired employees must complete section 1 of the I-9 in its entirety. In order to create an E-Verify case, the employee MUST provide a SSN.
  • If an employee does not provide a SSN, they must obtain one from the SSA. This can delay the three day requirement to create a case in E-Verify. If there is a delay, the employer must note the reason for the delay on the Form I-9 during the verification process.

Section 2 - Overview

• The Employer must then complete section 2 of the Form I-9 in its entirety. Section 2 is completed by examining the documents presented by the employee either physically or remotely (the remote procedure was authorized by the DHS) to establish that their identity matches what has been recorded on their Form I-9.
  • Please note that if presented remotely, the document image MUST be clear and legible. This document is provided to E-Verify and must match the information that is pulled from the DHS and the SSA.
• An employer can accept either a List A document OR a combination of documents from List B and List C.
  • List A Document: Proves both identity and employment eligibility
  • List B Document: Proves identity
  • List C Document: Proves employment eligibility

Verification Process Overview

• The E-Verify employment eligibility confirmation process begins with a completed Form I-9. The information from Form I-9 is then entered into E-Verify and a case result is provided.
  • NOTE: If Zeal’s internal system flags an error on the Form I-9, the Form will not be submitted to E-Verify until the error is corrected. Zeal will notify you that there is an error and provide guidance with the necessary steps for correction. The case will be returned to the “processing” stage so that corrections can be made.
• Case results inform you of the status of your client’s employee's E-Verify case as well as their employment eligibility. Case results can be initial, interim, or final.
• If you determine the information in the case is incorrect, close the case and create a new case with correct information. The case can be closed by either contacting Zeal and requesting the case be closed on your behalf or by logging directly into E-Verify and selecting “close case”. If the case is closed directly through E-Verify, please notify Zeal that you have closed the case so that we may take proper action on our end.
• Every case must be closed to complete the E-Verify process.
• REMINDER: E-Verify confirms employment eligibility by comparing the employee's Form I-9 information entered in E-Verify to official government records that E-Verify can access.

Reviewing a submitted Form I-9

Confirm the employees start date input to Zeal

• Confirm that the start date listed in Zeal is within the last 72 hours. If the date is prior to the last 72 hours, the Form I-9 will be automatically flagged as delayed. Update the employee’s start date to the required timeframe in order for the case to be successfully submitted to E-Verify.

Confirming the selected citizenship or immigration status

• Review the documents provided by the employee and confirm that they have selected the citizenship or immigration status that corresponds with the documents they have chosen to provide (see List A Document Compatibility Chart for reference). The statuses are as follows:
  • A citizen of the United States
  • A noncitizen national of the United States: An individual born in American Samoa, certain former citizens of the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and certain children of noncitizen nationals born abroad.
  • A lawful permanent resident: An individual who is not a U.S. citizen and who resides in the United States under legally recognized and lawfully recorded permanent residence as an immigrant.
    • Conditional residents should select this status. Asylees and refugees should NOT select this status; they should instead select “An alien authorized to work.” If they select “lawful permanent resident,” they should enter their 7- to 9-digit USCIS Number (A-Number) in the space provided.
  • An alien authorized to work: An individual who has authorization to work but is not a U.S. citizen, noncitizen national, or lawful permanent resident.
    • If they select this box, confirm they have entered the date that their employment authorization expires, if any, in the space provided. In most cases, their employment authorization expiration date is found on the documentation evidencing your employment authorization. If their employment authorization documentation has been automatically extended by the issuing authority, confirm they entered the expiration date of the automatic extension in this space.
    • Refugees, asylees, and certain citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or Palau, and other aliens authorized to work whose employment authorization does not have an expiration date, should enter N/A in the Expiration Date field.

Acceptable Documents

• Confirm that the employee has either entered one proper List A document OR a proper List B and List C document. Confirm that the documents they have selected match the citizenship or immigration status selected on the Form I-9.
• For an in-depth description of below individual documents, please visit the E-Verify's site.

List A Document Compatibility Chart

List A Documents

• U.S. Passport or Passport Card
• Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card (Form I-551)
• Foreign passport that contains a temporary I-551 stamp or temporary I-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa
• Employment Authorization Document that contains a photograph (Form I-766)
• Foreign passport with Form I-94 or Form I-94A with Arrival-Departure Record, and containing an endorsement to work
• Passport from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) or the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) with Form I-94 or Form I-94A indicating nonimmigrant admission under the Compact of Free Association Between the United States and the FSM or RMI
• Acceptable Receipts
  • Receipt for a replacement of a lost, stolen, or damaged List A document.
  • Form I-94 issued to a lawful permanent resident that contains an I-551 stamp and a photograph of the individual.
  • Form I-94 with “RE” notation or refugee stamp issued to a refugee.

List B Documents

• Driver's license or ID card issued by a State or outlying possession of the United States provided it contains a photograph or information such as name, date of birth, sex, height, eye color, and address
• ID card issued by federal, state or local government agencies or entities, provided it contains a photograph or information such as name, date of birth, sex, height, eye color, and address
• School ID card with a photograph
• Voter's registration card
• U.S. Military card or draft record
• Military dependent's ID card
• U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Card
• Native American tribal document
• Driver's license issued by a Canadian government authority
• For persons under age 18 who are unable to present a document listed above: 
  • School record or report card
  • Clinic, doctor, or hospital record
  • Day-care or nursery school record
• Acceptable Receipts
  • Receipt for a replacement of a lost, stolen, or damaged List B document may be presented in lieu of a document listed above for a temporary period.

List C Documents

• U.S. Social Security Card
• Certification of report of birth issued by the Department of State (Forms DS-1350, FS-545, FS-240)
• Original or certified copy of birth certificate issued by a State, county, municipal authority, or territory of the United States bearing an official seal
• Native American tribal document
• U.S. Citizen ID Card (Form I-197)
• Identification Card for Use of Resident Citizen in the United States (Form I-179)
• Employment authorization document issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
• Acceptable Receipts
  • Receipt for a replacement of a lost, stolen, or damaged List C document may be presented in lieu of a document listed above for a temporary period.

E-Verify Case Results

The potential E-Verify results are as follows:

• Employment Authorized - The employee’s information matched records available to DHS and/or SSA.
• E-Verify Needs More Time - This case was referred to DHS for further verification.
• Tentative Nonconfirmation (Mismatch) - Information did not match records available to DHS and/or SSA. Additional action is required.
• Case in Continuance - The employee has contacted DHS or visited an SSA field office, but more time is needed to determine a final case result.
• Close Case and Resubmit - DHS or SSA requires that you close the case and create a new case for this employee.
• Final Nonconfirmation - E-Verify cannot confirm the employee’s employment eligibility after the employee contacted DHS or SSA, the time for resolving the case expired, or DHS closed the case without confirming the employee’s employment eligibility for some other reason.

Employee Authorized

• Employment Authorized means that the information entered into E-Verify matched records available to DHS and/or SSA confirming employment eligibility of the employee whose information was entered. E-Verify automatically closes cases resulting in Employment Authorized.

E-Verify Needs More Time

• A case result of E-Verify Needs More Time means that DHS cannot verify the data and needs more time. The case is automatically referred for further verification. DHS will respond to most of these cases within 24 hours, although some responses may take up to 3 federal government working days. No action is required by either you or the employee at this time, but you can check E-Verify daily for a response. 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 he or she is not authorized to work) because of the mismatch, until the mismatch becomes a Final Nonconfirmation.
• After 3 business days, E-Verify will return one of the following results:
  • Employment Authorized
  • Tentative Nonconfirmation (Mismatch)
  • Case in Continuance
• Employer Action:
  • Check E-Verify for case result updates
  • Follow next steps based on case result provided
  • An employer may not take adverse action against an employee because of a E-Verify Needs More Time result
• Employee Action:
  • None

Tentative Nonconfirmation (Mismatch)

• A mismatch means that the information entered into E-Verify does not match records available to DHS and/or SSA. It is possible for an employee to receive a dual mismatch, which means the case received a mismatch result from both agencies at the same time because information entered into E-Verify does not match records available to both DHS and SSA. E Verify identifies the agency or agencies associated with the mismatch in the mismatch Further Action Notice. When E-Verify displays a mismatch case result, the employer must first notify the employee and complete the referral process as soon as possible within 10 federal government working days after E-Verify issued the mismatch result.
• A case can result in a mismatch with DHS because:
  • Name, Alien Number, Form I-94 number and/or foreign passport number are incorrect in DHS records.
  • U.S. passport, passport card, driver’s license, state ID, or foreign passport information could not be verified.
  • Information was not updated in the employee’s DHS records.
  • Citizenship or immigration status changed.
  • Record contains another type of error.
  • Employer entered information incorrectly in E-Verify.
  • Photo did not match.
• A case can result in a mismatch with SSA because:
  • The employee’s citizenship or immigration status was not updated with SSA.
  • The employee did not report a name change to SSA.
  • The employee’s name, Social Security number and/or date of birth are incorrect in SSA records.
  • SSA records contain another type of mismatch.
  • The employer entered the employee’s information incorrectly in E-Verify.

Steps to Resolve a Tentative Nonconfirmation (Mismatch):

Step 1: Notify Employee of Mismatch

• Employer Action within 10 Federal Government Working Days After E-Verify Issued the Mismatch Result:
  • Download and print the Further Action Notice and confirm whether the information listed at the top is correct
  • Privately notify employee of the mismatch. You may provide the Further Action Notice to the employee in person, by fax, email, overnight or next-day delivery service, as long as you take proper precautions to ensure the employee’s information is protected.
  • Have employee review and confirm whether the information listed at the top is correct
  • Instruct the employee to indicate his or her decision to take action or not and to sign and date the Further Action Notice
  • Provide the employee with a copy of the signed Further Action Notice in English (and a translated version, if appropriate)
  • Keep the original signed Further Action Notice on file with Form I-9
  • Instruct the employee that they must tell you their decision as soon as possible by the 10th federal government working day after E-Verify issued the mismatch result or you will close the case in E-Verify.
  • Close the case in E-Verify if the employee does not give you their decision by the end of the 10th federal government working day.
• Employee Action within 10 Federal Government Working Days After E-Verify Issued the Mismatch Result:
  • Confirm if the information on the Further Action Notice is correct
  • Decide whether to take action to resolve the mismatch or not and indicate choice on the Further Action Notice
  • Acknowledge the mismatch case result by signing and dating Further Action Notice

Step 2: Confirm Employee Decision

• Employer Action:
  • Take next steps in E-Verify based on the employee’s decision to take action or not regarding the mismatch.
  • If an employee decides to take action, refer the case.
  • If referred:
    • Print the Referral Date Confirmation, provide it to the employee and attach a copy to the employee’s Form I-9
    • Check E-Verify for case result updates and follow steps based on case result provided.
  • If the employee decides not to take action, close the case.
• Employee Action:
  • Take next steps based on decision to take action or not
  • If referred, contact DHS and/or visit a SSA field office within eight federal government working days and present the Further Action Notice and applicable original documents listed on the Further Action Notice
    • DHS mismatch: Call DHS to begin to resolve
    • SSA mismatch: Visit an SSA field office to begin resolving
    • SSA citizenship mismatch: Call DHS or visit an SSA field office to begin resolving
  • Follow DHS or SSA instructions or next steps

Step 3: Review And Update Employee Data

• If SSA finds a discrepancy in the information it received in the E-Verify referral, E-Verify will issue a prompt for the employer to review and update the employee’s information. A Review and Update Employee Data case result occurs for reasons including typographical errors and/or incorrect information provided on Form I-9. This requires the employer to review Form I-9 with the employee and make any necessary corrections on Form I-9, and update the information in the E-Verify case.
• Employer Actions:
  • Review the information on Form I-9 and E-Verify with the employee for accuracy and make any necessary changes on Form I-9
  • Access the employee’s case
  • If necessary, update the employee’s information in the fields provided
  • Click Continue
  • Follow steps based on case result provided
• Employee Actions: 
  • Ensure that the information provided in Section 1 of Form I-9 is accurate and make any necessary corrections

Case In Continuance

• A Case in Continuance status indicates that the employee has contacted DHS and/or visited an SSA field office, but more time is needed to determine a final case result. The reason DHS or SSA needs more time varies with each situation. Employers should check E-Verify periodically for case result updates. 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, until the mismatch becomes a Final Nonconfirmation.

Close Case and Resubmit

• Your employee’s case may receive a Close Case and Resubmit case result if DHS and/or SSA are unable to process the case and confirm employment eligibility. The employer should close the case in E-Verify and create a new case.
• Employer Action:
  • Receive Close Case and Resubmit Case Result
  • Click Close and Create a New Case
  • Create new case
• Employee Action:
  • None

Final Nonconfirmation

• A case receives a Final Nonconfirmation case result when E-Verify cannot confirm an employee’s employment eligibility after:
  • The employee has contacted DHS or visited an SSA field office during the mismatch referral process;
  • The employee failed to call DHS and/or visit an SSA field office within 8 federal government working days; Or
  • The employee did not give the employer their decision whether or not to take action by the end of the 10th federal government working day after E-Verify issued the mismatch result.
• Employers must close the case once a case receives a Final Nonconfirmation result. The employer may terminate employment based on a case result of Final Nonconfirmation with no civil or criminal liability as noted in “Responsibilities of the Employer,” Article II, Section A, paragraph 13 of a MOU.
• Employer Action:
  • Receive Final Nonconfirmation case result
  • Close case
• Employee Action:
  • None

Admin Videos

Please refer to Zeal's I-9 and E-Verify - Admin Videos article for a list of actions an admin can take through the Zeal dashboard.

E-Verify Status Flowchart

You can refer to this flowchart for the potential statuses an E-Verify case can move through.

Updated May 22, 2025 23:14