Some E-Verify timeframes will be suspended temporarily, USCIS has announced. E-Verify services will be unavailable from midnight March 23 (Friday) to 8:00 a.m. March 26 (Monday) due to system upgrades. The agency has provided a Fact Sheet on E-Verify requirements and other issues during the outage.

During the suspension, employers will not be able to access their E-Verify accounts and employees will be unable to resolve E-Verify Tentative Non-confirmations (TNC) with the DHS or the Social Security Administration.

According to the USCIS Fact Sheet, to minimize the impact on employers:

• The three-day rule for creating E-Verify cases is suspended for cases affected by the suspension;
• If an employee’s first day occurs between March 20 and March 26, employers will have until March 29 to create the E-Verify case;
• The time for employees to resolve TNCs will be extended by two federal working days;
• DHS and SSA will not be able to assist employees with case resolution issues from March 23 to March 26 and employees will have an additional two federal working days from the date listed on their Referral Date Confirmation to contact the agencies;
• Employers may not take adverse action against an employee because the E-Verify case is in interim case status or during the extended interim case status due to the suspension; and
• Federal contractors with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) E-Verify clauses should contact their contracting officer to inquire about extending contractor deadlines.

Employers are reminded that the E-Verify outage does not change any Form I-9 requirements. Form I-9s must be completed no later than three business days after employment.