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The federal government’s E-Verify system is back online after a weeklong outage due the ongoing government shutdown.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) restored access late on October 7, though it remains unclear how long the system will stay operational or how the agency managed to bring it back online.
E-Verify, which allows employers to confirm the employment eligibility of new hires by comparing information from Form I-9 with records from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration, had been offline since October 1.
“Employers should take this window to catch up,” said Arit Butani, supervising immigration counsel at Boundless Immigration. “Run any backlogged cases, record what steps you took during the outage, and be ready in case there’s another disruption.”
Learn more about what the government shutdown means for immigration.
What Employers Should Do Now
Employers enrolled in E-Verify should:
- Run any backlogged cases immediately
- Enter all new hires without delay
- Resume related functions such as closing cases and handling tentative nonconfirmations
What’s Still Unclear
USCIS has not yet issued official guidance about when the three-day case submission clock will restart for cases that couldn’t be created during the outage.
It’s also uncertain whether E-Verify support hotlines for employers and employees are currently staffed.
“It’s surprising to see E-Verify restored in the middle of a shutdown, but it also shows how essential the system has become,” Butani said. “Even when government operations slow down, compliance remains a top priority.”
Boundless will continue tracking how the shutdown impacts immigration operations, from E-Verify to visa processing, and update this post as more information becomes available.
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.svg)
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The federal government’s E-Verify system is back online after a weeklong outage due the ongoing government shutdown.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) restored access late on October 7, though it remains unclear how long the system will stay operational or how the agency managed to bring it back online.
E-Verify, which allows employers to confirm the employment eligibility of new hires by comparing information from Form I-9 with records from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration, had been offline since October 1.
“Employers should take this window to catch up,” said Arit Butani, supervising immigration counsel at Boundless Immigration. “Run any backlogged cases, record what steps you took during the outage, and be ready in case there’s another disruption.”
Learn more about what the government shutdown means for immigration.
What Employers Should Do Now
Employers enrolled in E-Verify should:
- Run any backlogged cases immediately
- Enter all new hires without delay
- Resume related functions such as closing cases and handling tentative nonconfirmations
What’s Still Unclear
USCIS has not yet issued official guidance about when the three-day case submission clock will restart for cases that couldn’t be created during the outage.
It’s also uncertain whether E-Verify support hotlines for employers and employees are currently staffed.
“It’s surprising to see E-Verify restored in the middle of a shutdown, but it also shows how essential the system has become,” Butani said. “Even when government operations slow down, compliance remains a top priority.”
Boundless will continue tracking how the shutdown impacts immigration operations, from E-Verify to visa processing, and update this post as more information becomes available.
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