After a week-long federal government shutdown, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has officially brought E-Verify back online. The system—used by U.S. employers to confirm workers’ employment eligibility—is once again active, and that means HR teams must act quickly to stay compliant. Employers now face a tight grace period to create pending E-Verify cases, resolve tentative nonconfirmations (TNCs), and document any delays caused by the outage.

E-Verify Grace Period Ends October 14, 2025

If your organization hired employees while E-Verify was offline, you must submit those cases no later than Tuesday, October 14, 2025. When creating a case, enter the employee’s hire date from Form I-9, select “Other” as the delay reason, and note “E-Verify not available” in the comments.

USCIS confirmed that the downtime days don’t count toward the standard three-day rule for case creation—but that grace period is short. Employers should begin updating records immediately rather than waiting until the final day to submit cases.

Handling Tentative Nonconfirmations (TNCs) After the Outage

If an employee previously received a tentative nonconfirmation, employers must issue a new Referral Date Confirmation notice with the updated deadline. You have three ways to do this:

• Best practice: Print a fresh Referral Date Confirmation directly from E-Verify.

• Alternate: Write the updated referral date on the old notice after reviewing the case in the system.

• Fallback: Add six federal business days to the original referral date.

Note: If a mismatch was referred on or after October 8, standard timelines apply—no additional time is granted.

What Federal Contractors and E-Verify+ Users Should Know

Federal contractors using E-Verify must contact their contracting officers to confirm new compliance timelines. The shutdown paused certain countdowns but didn’t cancel obligations. Be proactive in documenting communications and confirming next steps.

For employers using E-Verify+, the updated platform now provides refreshed “What’s Next” instructions. Employees who couldn’t contest mismatches earlier should log in again to see new deadlines for contacting the Social Security Administration (SSA) or DHS.

If you were enrolled in remote I-9 inspection under DHS’s alternative procedure before the shutdown, you can continue using it during this recovery period.

Plan for Delays and Strengthen Compliance Practices

E-Verify customer support is back, but USCIS warns of heavy call volumes and response delays. Keep a clear record of your compliance efforts—log submission dates, reissued notices, and internal escalations. Employers who documented I-9 activities during the shutdown will have an easier time reconciling cases now.

This episode highlights how dependent compliance systems are on federal operations. The best response? Move quickly, document thoroughly, and maintain vigilance to keep your organization compliant and audit-ready.