One of the most important things that employers interested in hiring non-U.S. citizens need to know about is E-Verify. Sure the “E” tells us this might be something online and electronically taken care of on the computer, but what is it and why should international employees care?
On E-Verify’s home page, you will find how they self describe: “E-Verify is a free web-based service that is fast and simple to use. It allows employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of new hires, or existing employees assigned to a qualifying federal contract.”
As an international staff member or student, E-Verify is likely to become an important part of your job seeking journey. On average, 1500 businesses create E-Verify accounts each week, and there are over one million employers enrolled in E-Verify. The system electronically confirms an employee’s information against millions of government records and provides results within as little as three to five seconds.
If you are seeking CPT (students who are enrolled in an educational institution and use their Curricular Practical Training) keep in mind you can only work at companies that are enrolled in E-Verify. You must submit work authorization documents and personal information in order to verify work eligibility. While you need not work for an E-Verify enrolled company when you look for OPT (post-graduate work), if you plan to stay at this company after the OPT ends or if you transition to STEM OPT extension, the company needs to be enrolled in E-Verify. Thus, if you are in either of these latter two categories it is in your best interest to check their enrollment in E-Verify before accepting an offer of OPT as it could impact your decision should you have multiple offers (between a E-Verify enrolled company versus a non-E-Verify enrolled company, the former already has familiarity should you extend your work with them, or be offered a full time position post-OPT). You can see if a company is enrolled in E-Verify by easily checking HERE.
| CPT | OPT | STEM OPT extension | H-1B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employers’ E-verify participation | YES | NO | YES | NO |
Once your employer submits your information, results will be generated in a matter of seconds and range from Employment Authorized (hurrah, your information matched that in the the Department of Homeland and Social Security Administration databases!) to Final Nonconfirmation (E-Verify cannot confirm your information). To avoid anything but an “Employment Authorized” result, we encourage you to ensure all your documents are up to date and correct (e.g., your name is correct with SSA, your birth date listed correctly) before completing the I-9 (which both U.S. citizens and non-citizens must submit for employment verification).
Below are categories for responses E-Verify may generate:
- Employment Authorized- Your information matched the DHS and SSA records.
- E-Verify needs more time- Additional verification is needed from DHS
- Tentative nonconfirmation (mismatch)- Additional information is needed because of a mismatch with SSA or DHS records
- Case in continuance- More time is needed and you should be in contact with SSA or DHS.
- Close case and resubmit- DHS and/or SSA has asked you to close the current case so you can create a new one
- Final nonconfirmation- E-Verify is unable to confirm your employment eligibility.
TLDR:
Make sure all your documents are up to date and correct (e.g., passport name matches that on Employment Authorization Document, birth date on all documents are the same, etc.
E-Verify is an online system where employers can quickly check to make sure you have the right authorization to work in the United States.
For CPT, you are only able to work at an E-Verify enrolled company. While on OPT you do not need to work at an E-Verify company, but if you plan (or hope to!) to stay with them after your OPT ends or do the STEM OPT extension, the company must be enrolled.
The simplest way to check a company’s E-Verify participation (without even leaving your job search website) is to use the F1 Hire extension during your job search. Not only will this extension show the company’s participation in E-verify, but you can also filter to only view companies that are participating in E-Verify program by using our Job Screener feature allowing you to also see which companies have a history of H-1B sponsorship.
