E-Verify Frequently Asked Questions

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1. What is the E-Verify system?

E-Verify is a free, Internet-based system operated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). E-Verify electronically compares information contained on the I-9 form with records contained in the Social Security Administration (SSA) and DHS databases to help employers verify the identity and employment eligibility of newly hired employees. All new hires at NC State University must be entered into the E-Verify system.

The E-Verify system also does not replace the requirement of employers to complete an I-9 form for all new employees within three days after their hire date.

2. Why does NC State University need to use the E-Verify system?

On January 1, 2007, the State of North Carolina mandated that all state agencies, including its public universities and community colleges, use the E-Verify system.

3. How and when do I access the E-Verify system?

NC State University uses the I-9 Guardian system by LawLogix to complete both the I-9 form and the E-Verify process electronically. LawLogix serves as our E-Verify “employer agent,” and after an I-9 form is completed and approved in the I-9 Guardian system, it automatically sends the relevant data from our electronic I-9 forms to the E-Verify database. The I-9 form will NOT be sent to the E-Verify system if the I-9 form is completed but not approved – it must be approved before the data will be transmitted to the E-Verify system for processing.

We are required to complete the I-9 form and send the I-9 information to E-Verify no later than the end of three (3) business days after the actual start date. However, if the employee does not have a valid Social Security Number, the I-9 Guardian system will hold the I-9 information and not send it to the E-Verify system until a valid Social Security Number is entered on the I-9 form for that employee.

Once the I-9 is approved in the I-9 Guardian system and the data is electronically sent to the E-Verify system, I-9 Guardian will automatically take you to the E-Verify page connected to this I-9 form within the I-9 Guardian system. You will be taken to the E-Verify Overview tab, and the system will indicate in a green block at the top that the “E-Verify Interaction” is pending. You can either wait for the interaction to be completed (it could take a while, especially if the new employee is a foreign national), or you can go back to your dashboard to process other I-9 forms while this E-Verify action continues to be processed within the system.

4. Which employees should be verified through the E-Verify system?

All new hires at NC State University must be entered into the E-Verify system, regardless of citizenship or nationality. The I-9 Guardian system will automatically submit the I-9 information to the E-Verify system after the I-9 form has been completed and approved.

5. Does the E-Verify system confirm the immigration status of a new hire who is not a U.S. citizen?

No, the E-Verify system only confirms a new hire’s employment eligibility, not his/her immigration status.

6. What should I do if my new employee does not have a Social Security Number?

The E-Verify system requires that the new employee have a valid Social Security Number, and there are no exceptions to this system requirement.

If the new employee does not have a valid Social Security Number (which commonly happens with new foreign national employees), you still must complete an electronic I-9 form with that employee in the I-9 Guardian system within three days after the hire date. You should use the Minute I-9 feature to start the process, and on the first screen, check the box to indicate that the employee does not yet have a valid Social Security Number. You and the employee will complete the rest of the I-9 form, and once the new Social Security Number is available, the electronic I-9 form must be updated (via the online “amendment process”) with the new Social Security Number. You will then submit the amended I-9 to E-Verify using either your dashboard (the “Top Pending I-9 Issues” view) or the employee’s E-Verify tab in their employee record.

Because the E-Verify process will not have been initiated within the required three day timeframe (after the hire date), the E-Verify system, through our electronic I-9 Guardian system, will require you to explain why it is late. On the Manual Processing tab in the employee’s E-Verify record, you should select “Awaiting Social Security Number” as the appropriate reason why the E-Verify submission is late. You will click on the “resubmit late inquiry” button at the bottom of the page to send the I-9 information to the E-Verify system.

In the meantime, because you properly completed the I-9 process with that new employee to verify work authorization at the time of hire, your employee is allowed to work temporarily without having the Social Security Card or the E-Verify system result. We should not take any action to terminate the employee until or unless the E-Verify system returns a result of a “Final Nonconfirmation.” If such a response is received, please contact the International Employment Manager in Human Resources for additional guidance and direction.

7. What documentation do I need to keep to indicate that I initiated a query in E-Verify for a new hire?

The I-9 Guardian system retains an electronic copy of the I-9 and the corresponding E-Verify data in each employee’s record in the system. This information can be accessed at any time in the employee record.

8. Does E-Verify require that I make copies of documents presented for I-9 purposes?

The E-Verify system requires employers to make and attach copies of U.S. Passports or U.S. Passport Cards, Permanent Resident Cards and Employment Authorization Cards (commonly called EADs or EACs) but only if they are presented by the new employee as their freely chosen documents for completion of Section 2 of the I-9 form. E-Verify does not require that copies of any other documents be made or kept. NC State University policy is to not copy or attach documents presented for I-9 purposes, with the exceptions noted above.

Because NC State University has an electronic I-9 system, you need to scan and electronically attach copies of these documents, if provided for Section 2 completion by the employee. First scan and save copies of these documents to a temporary folder on your computer in a .jpeg or .tif format. After you have uploaded the copies from your computer into the new employee’s I-9 record in the I-9 Guardian system, delete the copy from your computer. Once you see that the copy has been attached in the I-9 Guardian system to that person’s I-9 form, you no longer need to keep the copy of the document on your computer.

9. What happens in the E-Verify system if the I-9 was not completed within the three day timeframe after the hire date?

Once the I-9 is approved in the I-9 Guardian system and the data is electronically sent to the E-Verify system, I-9 Guardian will automatically take you to the E-Verify page connected to this I-9 form. You will be taken to the E-Verify Overview tab, and the system will indicate in a green block that the “E-Verify Interaction” is pending. If Section 2 of the I-9 form was completed more than three days after the hire date, the “Manual Processing” E-Verify tab will appear, and will indicate that you need to explain why the I-9 form was completed late. The system will give you five possible responses. You should NEVER choose the “other” response. Please choose the radio button that corresponds to “Awaiting Social Security Number,” “Technical Problems” or “Audit Revealed New Hire Was Not Run.” If you have any questions about this situation, please contact International Employment before proceeding further at i9questions@ncsu.edu or 513-3338.

Once you have selected the appropriate radio button, you will click on the “Resubmit Late Query” button, and then proceed based on the result indicated by the E-Verify system. The various possible responses are explained in the questions and answers below.

10. If I receive an “employment authorized” message in E-Verify, how do I finish the E-Verify process in the I-9 Guardian system?

In the I-9 Guardian system on the E-Verify tab in the employee’s record, click on the “Close Case” button, and answer the two questions to fully close out the case. The E-Verify record remains pending in the I-9 Guardian system and the E-Verify system until it is completely and officially closed. Once employment is authorized, you can close the case and then no further action is required.

From your dashboard in the I-9 Guardian system, select the “Top Pending E-Verify Actions” view so that you can see the status of the pending E-Verify cases that correspond to the I-9 forms that you have completed and approved in the system. (If you have not selected this as one of your dashboard default views, by hovering over the word “view” in one of your dashboard panels, you can select the “Top Pending E-Verify Actions” view.) The “current status” column will indicate where the case is within the E-Verify process, and by clicking on the date link (in blue), the system will take you to the E-Verify page related to the I-9 form so that you can go to the “Close Case” tab to answer the two questions and close the case.

After you have closed the case, the I-9 Guardian system will take you to the E-Verify Overview tab, which will indicate at the top that the case is closed.

11. What if I made a typo or other mistake when entering information into the electronic I-9 form, which results in an issue with the E-Verify system?

Once the I-9 is approved in the I-9 Guardian system and the data is electronically sent to the E-Verify system, I-9 Guardian will automatically take you to the E-Verify page connected to this I-9 form within I-9 Guardian. You will be taken to the E-Verify Overview tab and the system will indicate in a green block that the “E-Verify Interaction” is pending. If there is a mismatch between the data from the I-9 form and the SSA and/or DHS databases, the “Manual Processing” E-Verify tab will appear and will indicate that the case is incomplete and that you need to check the information that was previously entered. Follow the options indicated on that screen (in a yellow box) to either close the case, make corrections to update the data and then click “Continue Case,” or click “Continue Case” if everything was entered correctly and no changes were needed.

You will need to monitor the case in the “Top Pending E-Verify Actions” view on your dashboard, and once the “current status” column is updated by the E-Verify database, you can take the next action based on the response and the prompts in the I-9 Guardian system.

12. What do I do when the employee’s case receives a “SSA tentative nonconfirmation” result?

When an employee’s case receives a “SSA Tentative Nonconfirmation” result, this status will appear in the “current status” column in the “Top Pending E-Verify Actions” view on your dashboard. (If you have not selected this as one of your dashboard default views, by hovering over the word “view” in one of your dashboard panels, you can select the “Top Pending E-Verify Actions” view.) By clicking on the date link (in blue), the system will take you to the E-Verify page related to that I-9 form so that you can continue to process the case. The link will specifically take you to the “Manual Processing” E-Verify tab (which only appears in the system when there is an action related to E-Verify that you as the user need to take).
You should have the employee come to your office since he/she will need to participate in this process and electronically sign documents with you.

On this page, follow the instructions to either correct any information that you can that was incorrect or click on the “Continue Case” button if the information appears to be correct as entered into the system. Follow the prompts and instructions to electronically review and sign the SSA Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC) notice with the employee. Once both you and the employee have electronically signed the TNC notice, you should click on the word “notice” in item #3 to print a copy of the notice to give to the employee. An electronic copy of the notice is automatically stored in the employee’s I-9 “OnDocs” tab.

After you have completed, electronically signed, and printed the TNC notice, click on the “Initiate SSA Referral” button at the bottom of the page. You and the employee will again review the notice and both electronically sign it. Click on the “SSA Referral Letter” link in item #3 on the screen to print a copy of the letter for the employee, and then click on the “SSA Referral Given” button at the bottom of the page. An electronic copy of the notice is automatically stored in the employee’s I-9 “OnDocs” tab. The employee now has eight (8) federal government work days in which to contact the SSA office to try to get the issue resolved. The employee should take his/her copies of the TNC Notice and Referral Letter to the SSA office to get the issue resolved.

After you click the “SSA Referral Given” button, the system will take you to the E-Verify overview tab which will then reflect that the case is “Pending Further SSA/DHS Action.” Monitor the case in the “Top Pending E-Verify Actions” view on your dashboard, and once the “Current Status” column is updated by the E-Verify database, take the next action based on the response. If the response is a Final Nonconfirmation, please contact International Employment immediately for guidance on next steps. If the response is “Ready to Resolve Case,” click on the date link (in blue) to go to the employee’s E-Verify record to close out the case by answering the final two questions. (Please see #16 above.)

13. What do you do when the employee’s case receives a “DHS Tentative Nonconfirmation” result in the system?

When an employee receives a “DHS Tentative Nonconfirmation” result in the E-Verify system, this status will appear in the “Current Status” column in the “Top Pending E-Verify Actions” view on your dashboard. (If you have not selected this as one of your dashboard default views, by hovering over the word “view” in one of your dashboard panels, you can select the “Top Pending E-Verify Actions” view.) Please tell that employee to contact the International Employment office immediately so that we can assist him/her in handling this issue as quickly as possible. International Employment will provide the tentative nonconfirmation and referral notices to the employee and call DHS with the employee to get the DHS Tentative Nonconfirmation resolved. International Employment will go through the next steps in the system with the employee.