The E-Verify Shutdown: What Does It Mean For Employers and Employees?

USCIS posted this message on October 1, 2013: "E-Verify is currently unavailable due to a government shutdown.

While E-Verify is unavailable, you will not be able to access your E-Verify account. As a result, you will be unable to:

Enroll any company in E-Verify
Verify employment eligibility
View or take action on any case
Add, delete or edit any User ID
Reset passwords
Edit your company information
Terminate an account
Run reports
View 'Essential Resources.' Please note that all essential resources may be found by visiting www.dhs.gov/e-verify.

In addition, E-Verify Customer Support and related services are closed. As a result:

Employees will be unable to resolve Tentative Nonconfirmations (TNCs).
Telephone and e-mail support will be unavailable. You may send e-mails, however, we cannot respond until we reopen.
E-Verify webinars and training sessions are cancelled
E-Verify Self Check will not be available

We understand that E-Verify’s unavailability may have a significant impact on your company’s operations. To minimize the burden on both employers and employees, the following policies have been implemented:

The 'three-day rule' for E-Verify cases is suspended for cases affected by the shutdown. We’ll provide additional guidance once we reopen. This does NOT affect the Form I-9 requirement—employers must still complete the Form I-9 no later than the third business day after an employee starts work for pay.
The time period during which employees may resolve TNCs will be extended. Days the federal government is closed will not count towards the eight federal government workdays the employee has to go to SSA or contact DHS. We will provide additional time once we reopen.
For federal contractors complying with the federal contractor rule, please contact your contracting officer to inquire about extending deadlines.
Employers may not take any adverse action against an employee because of an E-Verify interim case status, including while the employee’s case is in an extended interim case status due to a federal government shutdown (consult the E-Verify User Manual for more information on interim case statuses).

We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to serving you once we resume operations. Please subscribe to this distribution list to receive future alerts when service resumes."