IER Information for Employers on How to Avoid Discrimination in E-Verify

How to Avoid Discrimination in E-Verify
Employer Fact Sheet
How to Avoid Discrimination in
E-Verify
This fact sheet discusses how you, as an employer, can avoid
discrimination when the E-Verify program.
E-Verify is an electronic program that assists enrolled businesses in determining if their
employees have permission to work in the United States. U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) administers the E-Verify program.
The Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) enforces a law
that prohibits employers from using the E-Verify program in a discriminatory manner
based on employees’ citizenship status or national origin. This law is found at 8 U.S.C.
§ 1324b.
Immigrant and Employee Rights Section
justice.gov/ier
What’s in this Document
• 	Non-discriminatory use
• 	Self Check
• 	Following E-Verify rules for creating
cases
• 	Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC or
mismatch)
• 	Final Nonconfirmation
• 	Acceptable documents
• 	Social Security numbers
Contact
For questions about this fact sheet,
call the Civil Rights Division’s
Immigrant and Employee Rights
Section at
1-800-255-8155

How to Avoid Discrimination in E-Verify
Non-discriminatory use 	To avoid violating E-Verify rules and the law that IER
enforces, use E-Verify consistently and without regard to
an employee’s citizenship, immigration status, or national
origin.
For example, don’t use E-Verify selectively based on a
suspicion that an employee may not be authorized to work in
the U.S. Don’t use E-Verify to pre-screen certain applicants
based on their citizenship status or national origin.
Self Check 	E-Verify Self Check is a voluntary online service that allows
individuals to confirm their own employment eligibility.
Don’t ask current or prospective employees to use Self
Check to prove their permission to work. Asking a worker
to use Self Check based on the worker’s citizenship status or
national origin might violate the law.
Following E-Verify rules
for creating cases
The E-Verify law and rules explain when and how you can
create an employee’s E-Verify case.
Only use E-Verify for new employees and only after your
employees have completed the Form I-9.
Don’t create an E-Verify case for existing employees unless
permitted as a federal contractor.
Tentative Nonconfirmation
(TNC or mismatch)
If you get a mismatch for a case, provide the corresponding
Further Action Notice to the affected employee promptly
and review it with them privately.
Your employee chooses whether to take action to resolve
the mismatch. Influencing or coercing an employee’s
decision about whether to take action to resolve a mismatch
based on the employee’s citizenship status or national origin
might violate the law.
If your employee chooses to take action to resolve the
mismatch, you next provide the Referral Date
Confirmation.
Don’t ask your employee to present additional
2

How to Avoid Discrimination in E-Verify
documentation or to get a printout or other written verification
from the Social Security Administration or the Department of
Homeland Security after referring that employee to either
agency. Requesting more documents than are necessary to
satisfy the Form I-9 or E-Verify based on citizenship status
or national origin might violate the law. Instead, continue to
check E-Verify for updates.
The E-Verify law and rules direct employers not to
terminate, delay the start date, or take other adverse
action against an employee who has decided to take
action on a mismatch, based on the pending mismatch.
More examples of adverse actions that E-Verify prohibits in
response to a pending mismatch are denying or reducing the
employee’s scheduled hours, requiring the employee to work
in poorer conditions, or subjecting the employee to any
assumption that they are unauthorized to work during this
period.
Final Nonconfirmation 	If you receive a Final Nonconfirmation and you or your
employee believe the Final Nonconfirmation was issued in
error, you or your employee can call E-Verify for help.
Acceptable documents 	Employees may present any documentation from the Lists of
Acceptable Documents for the Form I-9.
All employees may present either acceptable List A
documentation or a combination of acceptable List B
and List C documentation.
If an employee chooses to provide a List B document and
you use E-Verify, the List B document must have a photo.
Social Security numbers 	Wait to create an E-Verify case for an employee who is still
waiting for their Social Security number until they’ve received
their Social Security number.
Once your employee has completed the Form I-9, they
may work, even if they are still waiting for a Social
Security number.
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How to Avoid Discrimination in E-Verify
E-Verify rules specifically allow for this delay in creating the
E-Verify case and provide instructions for creating the case.
Display the E-Verify participation poster (available from E-
Verify) and the anti-discrimination IER poster (available from
IER).
Updated August 2023
Contact
• 	Call the Employer Hotline at
• 	For people with hearing disabilities 1-800-237-2515
• 	Calls can be anonymous.
• 	Free language services are available.
• 	To learn more, visit
1-800-255-8155
justice.gov/ier
Civil Rights Division, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER)
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
• 	For questions on properly creating an E-Verify case, call
• 	For people with hearing disabilities 1-877-875-6028
• 	To learn more, visit 	or
1-888-464-4218
uscis.gov/i-9central 	e-verify.gov