E-Verify Re-Opens During Government Shutdown

October 10, 2025

What's New

DHS announced that E-Verify is now fully operational after being temporarily unavailable starting October 1 because of the government shutdown. E-Verify employers must create new cases for employees hired during the outage by Tuesday, October 14. The system will prompt users to explain any delays in case creation; they should select “Other” and enter “E-Verify not Available.”

Employers also must address any tentative nonconfirmations (TNCs) that were delayed during the shutdown. If your employee received a mismatch and notified you of their intention to contest it, and you have already provided the Referral Date Confirmation to the employee, you must revise the date by which your employee must contact the Social Security Administration or the Department of Homeland Security to begin resolving the mismatch. Employers can revise the “Referral Date Confirmation” using one of three methods:

1. Reprint the notice in E-Verify with the new date; or
2. Write the new date on the original notice after checking the case; or
3. Add six federal business days to the original referral date.

No date adjustment is needed for TNCs referred after October 8.

What It Means

E-Verify’s temporary outage prevented employers from creating new cases and addressing TNCs. Now that the system is back up, employers must take prompt action to comply with their E-Verify obligations.

What You Should Do

Employers that use E-Verify should create cases by October 14 for hires made while the system was unavailable and should address TNCs as soon as possible.

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