E-Verify Mismatch: What Employers Can and Cannot Do
An E-Verify mismatch is the system telling you that the information you entered from a new hire's Form I-9 does not match records available to the Social Security Administration or the Department of Homeland Security. Its formal name is a Tentative Nonconfirmation, usually shortened to TNC. It is not a finding that your employee is unauthorized to work.
This guide is for the person handling the case, not the person receiving it. Fabric sits earlier in the funnel and does not run Form I-9 or E-Verify. It is also general information rather than legal advice: state requirements differ, so anything unusual belongs with employment counsel in the relevant jurisdiction.
The rule that catches employers out starts the moment the result appears. Until the case reaches a final result, you may not terminate, suspend, delay training, withhold or lower pay, or take any other adverse action against that employee because of the mismatch. Violations rarely look deliberate. They look like caution, such as a start date pushed back while everyone waits for clarity.
Table of contents
- What an E-Verify mismatch actually means
- What employers must not do while an E-Verify mismatch is open
- The E-Verify mismatch timeline: 10 working days, then 8 more
- What a Final Nonconfirmation permits
- Who is actually required to use E-Verify
- The discrimination exposure most employers miss
- Building a mismatch process before you need one
- FAQ
What an E-Verify mismatch actually means
An E-Verify mismatch, formally a Tentative Nonconfirmation, means the data an employer entered into E-Verify from a new hire's Form I-9 did not match records available to DHS or SSA. USCIS frames it as a data problem first. If the information matches, the case returns Employment Authorized. If it does not, the employer must give the employee an opportunity to take action to resolve it. E-Verify names the agency behind the result in a document called the Further Action Notice.
A case can also come back as a dual mismatch, meaning both DHS and SSA records disagreed with the entry at the same time. A mismatch result does not establish that the person cannot legally work. It records a disagreement between two federal databases and one paper form, which happens for reasons as ordinary as a name change nobody reported.
Why mismatches happen
Common causes sit on both sides of the record:
- A name change after marriage or divorce that was never reported to SSA.
- A change in citizenship or immigration status not yet reflected in DHS records.
- A passport, passport card, driver's license, or state ID whose details could not be verified.
- A typo made when the case was created, or a name entered in the wrong field.
If the details on the Further Action Notice are simply wrong, USCIS tells you to close the case, select the statement saying the information was not correct, then create a new one.
What employers must not do while an E-Verify mismatch is open
While a mismatch case is open, almost all of the employer's obligations are about not acting. The E-Verify User Manual states it plainly: employers may not terminate, suspend, delay training, withhold or lower pay, or take any other adverse action against an employee because the employee received a mismatch. The restriction runs from the moment the result is issued until E-Verify returns a final result, and it applies whether or not the employee decides to contest.
The employee keeps working on the same terms as any other new hire in that window. The quiet versions show up most in practice: moving a start date, holding someone out of onboarding, or switching them to unpaid status while you wait. Each is adverse action taken because of the mismatch.
Instead, the work is administrative: notify the employee, hand over a copy of the Further Action Notice, review it privately, and confirm the details at the top are correct.
The E-Verify mismatch timeline: 10 working days, then 8 more
Two deadlines govern a mismatch, and they run back to back. The first belongs mostly to the employer. Within 10 federal government working days after E-Verify issues the mismatch, you must notify the employee, give them the Further Action Notice, review it privately, and record whether they will take action. Federal government working days are Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays.
The second deadline belongs to the employee. Once you refer the case, they have 8 federal government working days to call DHS or visit an SSA field office. You give them a Referral Date Confirmation carrying the exact date by which they must make contact, and attach a copy to their Form I-9. USCIS then gives DHS and SSA 10 federal government working days from the referral date to update the result, so check the case periodically rather than waiting to be told.
| Stage | Who acts | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Notify employee and review the Further Action Notice | Employer, with the employee | Within 10 federal government working days of issuance |
| Employee decides whether to take action | Employee tells employer | By the end of the 10th federal government working day |
| Refer the case and issue the Referral Date Confirmation | Employer | At the point the decision is recorded in E-Verify |
| Contact DHS or visit an SSA field office | Employee | Within 8 federal government working days of the referral |
| Update the case result | DHS or SSA | 10 federal government working days from the referral date |
| Close the case | Employer | Once E-Verify returns a final result |
Interim results are not final results
Not every update ends the case. E-Verify Needs More Time means DHS could not verify the data and the case was automatically referred for further verification, with most responses arriving within 24 hours and some taking up to 3 federal government working days. A Case in Continuance means the employee has contacted DHS or visited SSA and the agency needs longer. USCIS attaches the same no-adverse-action rule to both.
What a Final Nonconfirmation permits
A Final Nonconfirmation is the point at which the restriction lifts. It is the result E-Verify returns when the system cannot confirm employment eligibility once the mismatch process has run its course. When it lands, the employer must close the case, and may terminate employment with no civil or criminal liability under the E-Verify Memorandum of Understanding. Note the word may. E-Verify's own case closure options include a statement recording that the employee continues to work for the employer after a Final Nonconfirmation, so the system does not force a dismissal. There is also a review path: the employer or the employee can call E-Verify at 1-888-464-4218 to request a further review, which may revisit the case result and issue a Status Update Letter to the employer, with the employee notified separately.
USCIS sets out three routes to that result:
- The employee contacted DHS or visited an SSA field office, and the agency still could not confirm eligibility.
- The employee failed to make that contact within 8 federal government working days of the referral.
- The employee never gave the employer a decision by the end of the tenth federal government working day.
Who is actually required to use E-Verify
E-Verify is a voluntary program at the federal level, which surprises people who assume it is universal. USCIS describes it as a free internet-based system that any U.S. employer may use to confirm the employment eligibility of newly hired employees, implementing requirements from the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. It does not replace Form I-9, and cases are not created for employees hired before the employer enrolled, apart from certain instances such as federal contractor employees covered by the FAR E-Verify clause. Its scope is limited to the United States, which here includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Cases are created one person at a time, for every newly hired employee rather than a selected few. Three things turn the voluntary program into a requirement.
- Federal contracts. Employers with federal contracts or subcontracts containing the Federal Acquisition Regulation E-Verify clause must enroll and use it as a condition of federal contracting.
- State legislation. Employers with staff in states whose legislation requires participation, in several cases as a condition of business licensing, may also be required to use it. USCIS states that E-Verify does not provide guidance on state or local E-Verify laws and points employers to state officials or their own legal advisors.
- A court order. An employer may also be required to participate under one.
Form I-9 obligations apply to every employer either way. For the underlying form, see I-9 vs. W-4: US payroll compliance forms explained, and for how verification sits alongside the rest of your obligations, the labor law and workplace compliance guide.
The discrimination exposure most employers miss
Misusing E-Verify is a violation in its own right, separate from anything to do with a mismatch. The Department of Justice's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section enforces the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act at 8 U.S.C. section 1324b, and states that employers participating in E-Verify must use it consistently and without regard to an employee's citizenship, immigration status, or national origin. Requiring a DHS-issued document from all non-citizens in order to create a case is the example IER gives of conduct that breaks both the statute and the E-Verify rules. The same law covers unfair documentary practices during the Form I-9 process, including requesting more or different documents than the form requires and rejecting documents that reasonably appear genuine. USCIS lists the corresponding prohibitions in its user rules and responsibilities. Employers must not:
- Use E-Verify to pre-screen an applicant for employment.
- Specify or request which Form I-9 documentation an employee must present, except that a List B identity document must contain a photo.
- Use E-Verify to discriminate on the basis of national origin, citizenship, or immigration status.
- Take adverse action against or terminate an employee because of a mismatch, unless E-Verify issues a Final Nonconfirmation.
The operational version: a case belongs to every newly hired employee, created no later than the third business day after they start work for pay, never to a shortlist of people whose paperwork looked unfamiliar. IER runs an employer hotline on 1-800-255-8155.
Building a mismatch process before you need one
Mismatches turn into legal problems in the gap between the result appearing and someone deciding what it means. A result lands on a Friday, the recruiter forwards it to a hiring manager, the manager makes a cautious call over the weekend, and by Monday the company has taken adverse action it cannot undo. Nobody in that chain intended to break a rule, which is why the control has to be procedural. Give E-Verify cases a single named owner, so every deadline has a person attached to it, and put in writing that a mismatch triggers no employment action from anyone. Convert both deadlines into calendar dates on the day the result appears, and keep the Further Action Notice and Referral Date Confirmation attached to the employee's Form I-9. Fabric works earlier in the hiring funnel, on sourcing and screening before an offer exists, and does not touch verification.
FAQ
How do I fix an E-Verify mismatch?
The employer notifies the employee within 10 federal government working days, gives them a copy of the Further Action Notice, and refers the case if the employee decides to take action. The employee then has 8 federal government working days from the referral to call DHS or visit an SSA field office with the documents listed on the notice.
What happens if an employee gets a mismatch in E-Verify?
They keep working on exactly the same terms while the case is open, because the employer may not terminate, suspend, delay training, withhold or lower pay, or take any other adverse action because of the mismatch. The case only becomes actionable for the employer once E-Verify returns a Final Nonconfirmation.
Why does E-Verify say my info is wrong when it is right?
A mismatch usually reflects a records problem rather than a work-authorization problem, most often an unrecorded name change, a status change not yet reflected in DHS records, or a typo made when the case was entered. The Further Action Notice names which agency, DHS or SSA, holds the record that did not match.
Why did I get an E-Verify mismatch notification on my phone?
E-Verify sends the employee a case result notification by email when an email address was entered on the case, and that address comes from the email field on Form I-9. Receiving it does not replace your employer's obligation to give you the Further Action Notice and review it with you in private.
Can an employer fire someone for an E-Verify mismatch?
Not while the mismatch is open. Termination is only permitted once the case reaches a Final Nonconfirmation, at which point USCIS states the employer may terminate employment with no civil or criminal liability under the E-Verify MOU.
What is E-Verify?
E-Verify is a free internet-based system operated by USCIS that compares the information an employer enters from an employee's Form I-9 against records available to DHS and the Social Security Administration. It confirms the employment eligibility of newly hired employees and does not replace Form I-9.