What Employers Need to Know This October

News October 9, 2025

E-Verify Resumed Operations (Article below is 10.9.2025 update from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services)

Creating Cases

Employers who participate in E‑Verify must create an E‑Verify case by Tuesday, Oct. 14 for each employee hired while E‑Verify was not available. You must use the hire date from the employee’s Form I‑9 when creating the E‑Verify case. If you could not create an E‑Verify case by the third business day after the employee began work for pay because E‑Verify was unavailable, E‑Verify will prompt you during case creation to provide a reason for the delay. Select “Other” from the “Select a Reason for Delay” drop-down menu and enter “E‑Verify not Available” as the specific reason in the “Reason for Delay” text box. The days E‑Verify was unavailable will not count toward the three business days employers usually have to create a case in E-Verify.

Tentative Nonconfirmations (Mismatches)

If your employee received a mismatch and notified you of their intention to contest it, and you provided the Referral Date Confirmation to the employee, you must revise the date by which your employee must contact the Social Security Administration (SSA) or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to begin resolving the mismatch. You have three options to provide a revised date to your employee(s) for their “Referral Date Confirmation” notice:

• The best option is to print a new “Referral Date Confirmation” notice that will have the new date employees must contact SSA or DHS to begin resolving their mismatch. To reprint a copy of your employee’s “Referral Date Confirmation,” log in to E‑Verify, select your employee’s case, and select the “Print Confirmation” button.
• The next option is to log in to E‑Verify, select the employee’s case to find their new referral date, and write the new date on the previously issued “Referral Date Confirmation” notice.
• The third option is to add six (6) federal business days to the date on your employee’s “Referral Date Confirmation” notice. Federal business days are Monday through Friday and do not include federal holidays.

For mismatch cases that were referred once E‑Verify resumed operations on or after Oct. 8, 2025, do not add days to the time your employee has to contact either SSA or DHS. If your employee decided to contest the mismatch when E‑Verify was unavailable, you should now refer the employee’s case and follow the mismatch process.

Federal Contractor Deadlines

During E‑Verify’s unavailability, federal contractors could not enroll or use E‑Verify as required by the E‑Verify federal contractor rule. As a result, any calendar day when E‑Verify was unavailable will not count toward any of the federal contractor deadlines. Please contact your contracting officer, as necessary, for more information on federal contractor responsibilities.

Employees with traditional E‑Verify cases

If the unavailability of E‑Verify prevented you from contesting your mismatch, we will give you additional time to contact SSA or DHS to begin the process of resolving your mismatch. If you received a “Referral Date Confirmation” notice indicating you must take action by Oct. 1, 2025 or later, you have three options to obtain your new date:

• Contact your employer and have them print out a new “Referral Date Confirmation” notice for you. Your notice will have the new date you must contact the SSA or DHS to begin resolving your mismatch.
• A second option is to ask your employer to log in to E‑Verify to get your new referral date and write the new date on your previously issued “Referral Date Confirmation” notice.
• Or you may add six (6) federal business days to the date printed on the “Referral Date Confirmation” that your employer provided you after you contested your mismatch. Federal business days are Monday through Friday and do not include federal holidays.

Contact either SSA or DHS by the new date to begin the process of resolving your mismatch.

For more information, please visit E-Verify’s “How to Process a Mismatch” page.

Employees with E‑Verify+ cases

If you were prevented from contesting your mismatch due to E‑Verify’s unavailability, we will give you additional time to contact SSA or DHS to begin the process of resolving your mismatch. If the “What’s Next” screen in E‑Verify+ indicated you must take action by October 1, 2025 or later, log back into E‑Verify+ to review the “What’s Next” page for an updated date by which you must take action.

E‑Verify Customer Support

We expect increased requests for customer assistance. This means you may experience longer than normal delays and response times. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience. For any questions or additional information, please email e-verify@dhs.gov.

Employers and employees may also contact E‑Verify at 888-464-4218 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern.