On October 9, 2025, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that E-Verify has resumed operations as of October 8th, restoring participating employers’ ability to confirm work authorization of newly hired employees, resolve outstanding cases, and otherwise manage their E-Verify responsibilities. The E-Verify system had been offline since October 1, 2025, when the most recent federal government shutdown began.
Employers that participate in E-Verify and were unable to create or process cases while the system was unavailable must now take action to ensure compliance with E-Verify requirements.
Organizations with new hires whose Form I-9’s were completed after the system went offline on October 1 that are pending E-Verify creation must create an E-Verify case by Tuesday, October 14, for each employee hired while E-Verify was unavailable.
When creating each new E-Verify case:
- Enter the hire date exactly as it appears on the employee’s Form I-9.
- If the case could not be created within three business days of the employee beginning work for pay because E-Verify was unavailable, the system will prompt you to select a reason for the delay.
- Select “Other” from the dropdown menu.
- Enter “E-Verify not available” in the “Reason for Delay” text box.
- The days during which E-Verify was unavailable will not count toward the standard three-business-day deadline to create a case.
Employers should review their records carefully to identify any employees hired during the system outage and ensure cases are created for all affected new hires by the October 14 deadline.
If an employee received a Tentative Nonconfirmation (Mismatch) and notified their employer of their intention to contest it, the employer must update the employee’s Referral Date Confirmation to revise the date by which the employee must contact the Social Security Administration or US Department of Homeland Security to begin resolving the mismatch.
USCIS has outlined three acceptable options for providing a revised date to affected employees:
- Preferred method: Log into E-Verify, select the employee’s case, and use the “Print Confirmation” button to print a new Referral Date Confirmation notice, which will automatically include the new deadline.
- Alternative method: Log into E-Verify, locate the employee’s case, note the updated referral date displayed in the system, and manually write the new date on the previously issued notice.
- Manual calculation method: Add six federal business days to the date printed on the original Referral Date Confirmation notice. Federal business days are Monday through Friday and do not include federal holidays.
For mismatch cases referred on or after October 8, 2025, employers should not add additional days as the system will have already adjusted the timing appropriately.
During the E-Verify inaccessibility period, federal contractors were unable to enroll or use the system as required under the E-Verify Federal Contractor Rule. USCIS has clarified that any calendar days when E-Verify was unavailable do not count toward federal contractor compliance deadlines. USCIS also recommends that contractors should contact their contracting officer for additional guidance on any adjustments to contract-specific deadlines or requirements.
Employees who were unable to contact SSA or DHS during the E-Verify outage will also receive additional time to take action. If their Referral Date Confirmation indicated they must act by October 1, 2025 or later, they may:
- Request the employer print a new notice reflecting the updated deadline;
- Ask the employer to write the new date on their existing notice after confirming it in E-Verify; or
- Add six federal business days to the date printed on the current notice.
Given this updated information from USCIS, the following affected employer actions are recommended:
- Log into E-Verify as soon as possible to confirm access and system functionality.
- Identify all employees hired while E-Verify was unavailable and create cases by the October 14 deadline.
- Review any open mismatch cases and take one of the approved steps to update the Referral Date Confirmation.
- Retain documentation of all actions taken in response to the outage and resumption of E-Verify for compliance purposes.
McMahon Berger will continue to monitor these developments and provide updates as they occur. Should you have any questions about these changes, please contact the lawyers at McMahon Berger.
The St. Louis employment attorneys at McMahon Berger have been representing employers across the country in labor and employment matters for over sixty years and are available to discuss these issues and others. As always, the foregoing is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice regarding any particular situation as every situation must be evaluated on its own facts. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely on advertisements.
