Glossary
Documents designated for determining employment authorization and identity under the Immigration & Nationality Act (INA) are listed on Form I-9 and in the Handbook for Employers (M-274) found at www.uscis.gov. Employees have the right to choose which document or combination of documents to present. Please note that any List B document presented to an employer participating in E-Verify must contain a photograph.
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An 11-digit number that is found on the Arrival-Departure Record (Form I-94 or Form I-94A).
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Any person who is not a citizen or national of the United States.
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A noncitizen who is allowed to work because of their immigration status or a noncitizen who is granted work authorization by USCIS upon request. This option should not be selected for a Lawful Permanent Resident.
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A unique 7-, 8- or 9-digit number assigned to a noncitizen at the time his or her A-File is created. The 9-digit USCIS number listed on the front of Permanent Resident Cards (Form I-551) issued after May 10, 2010 is the same as the Alien Registration Number. The “A” Number can also be found on the back of these Permanent Resident Cards.
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The Anti-Discrimination Notice is published by the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices, Department of Justice (OSC), and provides information to employees concerning discrimination in the workplace. The E-Verify Memorandum of Understanding requires participating Employers to display both the English and Spanish versions of the notice in a prominent place that is clearly visible to prospective employees. This notice is available in the online resources section of E-Verify. For questions about discrimination during the employment eligibility verification process, employers may contact OSC at 1-800-255-8155 or 1-800-237-2515 (TDD for the hearing impaired) or www.usdoj.gov/crt/osc.
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A document issued to noncitizens when admitted into the United States. Some of these forms are stamped to indicate work-authorized status. Form I-94 or I-94A contains an 11-digit admission number that may be used as part of the initial E-Verify case if the non-citizen employee does not have an Alien Registration Number.
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This response is given if SSA or DHS needs more than 10 federal government workdays to resolve a case. The employee continues to work until a definitive answer is provided in E-Verify from SSA or DHS.
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A unique number assigned to each employee that is created when an employer submits an initial verification. Employers participating in E-Verify are required to record the case verification number on the employee’s Form I-9 or to print the screen containing the case verification number and attach it to the employee’s Form I-9.
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An individual or company that hires an E-Verify Employer Agent to perform E-Verify cases on their behalf.
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The step in the verification process when either a final result has been provided or the user no longer needs to continue the verification and the case is ready to be closed.
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One of the E-Verify access method and the user type that corresponds to companies enrolled as a Corporate Administrator. This user type can only view reports for all of the company locations affiliated with the corporate account. They may also update user profiles for all users within the company.
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The response given if the employee’s information matches SSA records but SSA does not have employment authorization information for the noncitizen employee. E-Verify automatically forwards the case to DHS for verification of employment authorization. DHS responds to most of these cases within 24 hours, but has up to 3 federal government workdays to respond. Employers should check E-Verify periodically for a response.
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Type of document(s) presented by a newly hired employee to verify identity and employment authorization.
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E-Verify is an Internet-based program in which the employment authorization of a newly hired employees and existing employees assigned to a Federal contract will be verified after the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification has been completed. This involves separate verification checks (if necessary) of records maintained by SSA and DHS.
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An individual or company that performs E-Verify cases on behalf of employers.
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The E-Verify Notice informs perspective employees that an employer is participating in E-Verify. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) requires participating Employers to display both the English and Spanish versions of the notice in a prominent place that is clearly visible to prospective employees. These notices must also be displayed in a prominent place that is clearly visible to all employees who are to be verified through E-Verify.
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A document issued to non-citizens that are authorized to work temporarily in the United States. The Form I-766 has been issued since January 1997.
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The result received in E-Verify when the information entered into for an employee matches with SSA or DHS records. This result indicates employment authorization has been verified.
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If an employee’s employment authorization cannot be verified, an employer will receive a Final Nonconfirmation response from SSA or DHS. An employer receiving a Final Nonconfirmation response may terminate the employment of the employee and will not be civilly or criminally liable under any law for the termination, as long as the action was taken in good faith reliance on the information provided through E-Verify.
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The form employers are required to complete with the employee they hire an employee to perform labor or services in return for wages or other remuneration. This requirement applies to all employees hired after November 6, 1986.
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Provides detailed instructions on how to complete and retain Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.
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The date you enter into the hire date field in E-Verify is usually the date the employee began work for pay. This is the date that the employer entered into the Section 2 Certification on Form I-9.
An E-Verify case must be initiated no later than the end of three (3) business days after the employee begins work for pay. However, the E-Verify case may be submitted before the employee begins work for pay as long as the employee has accepted an offer of employment and Form I-9 is complete. In these situations, the date you should enter into the hire date field in E-Verify is the date you submit the case in E-Verify.
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The Act, which, along with other immigration laws, treaties, and conventions of the United States, relates to the immigration, temporary admission, naturalization, and removal of non-citizens.
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Public Law 99-603 (Act of November 6, 1986), sought to eliminate employment opportunity as a key incentive for illegal migration to the United States. IRCA mandates that all U.S. employers must ensure that all employees hired after November 6, 1986, are eligible to work in the United States and possess valid work authorization documents. It provides sanctions against employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers or discriminate against employees based on citizenship status, national origin or employment status.
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The results displayed in E-Verify once an employee’s information has been submitted as part of a verification case.
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Certain initial E-Verify results that require additional action before E-Verify can provide a final case result.
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A non-citizen who has been lawfully granted the privilege of residing and working permanently in the United States.
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A legal document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It constitutes a legally binding contract when properly executed (e.g., signed) by all the parties. Employers that participate in E-Verify must sign the E-Verify MOU between the employer, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.
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A response received when the employee did not contact DHS to resolve his or her case and 10 federal government workdays have passed since the date of referral. The DHS No Show result is considered a Final Nonconfirmation.
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Persons born in American Samoa; certain former citizens of the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands who relinquished their U.S. citizenship acquired under section 301 of Public Law 94-241 (establishing the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) by executing a declaration before an appropriate court that they intended to be non-citizen nationals rather than U.S. citizens; and certain children of non-citizen nationals born abroad. Generally, noncitizen nationals are American Samoans.
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This is a computer generated notice given to an employee after a Tentative Non confirmation interim case result has been received from SSA or DHS. If an employee contests the Tentative Non confirmation, he or she must contact or visit the appropriate agency within 8 Federal government work days to initiate resolution of his or her E-Verify case.
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Any travel document issued by a competent authority showing the bearer’s origin, identity, and nationality, if any, which is valid for the entry of the bearer into a foreign country.
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Document issued by the U.S. Department of State to U.S. citizens and noncitizen nationals.
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Issued by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service beginning in December 1997 and now issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, this card is the current version given to permanent residents. The document is valid for 10 years. In the current version of the I-551, the name of the document was changed from Resident Alien Card to Permanent Resident Card.
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A noncitizen who has been lawfully granted the privilege of residing and working permanently in the United States.
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The photo on the employee’s document matches the photo supplied by E-Verify. The photo transmitted by E-Verify should be the same (identical) photo that appears on an employee’s DHS-issued document. Employers should be able to determine whether or not the photos match.
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During the verification case, employers match the photos on certain documents provided by employees when completing Form I-9 with the photo that appears in E-Verify. Photo matching is triggered only when an employee has provided a US Passport or Passport Card, Permanent Resident Card (“Green Card” (Form I-551)) or an Employment Authorization Document (Form I-766) as his or her Form I-9 document.
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The photo on the employee’s document does not match the photo supplied by E-Verify. The photo transmitted by E-Verify should be the same (identical) photo that appears on an employee’s DHS-issued document. If the employer determines that it does not match, a DHS Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC) is issued and the employee is given the opportunity to contest.
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Someone in your company who can be contacted on E-Verify issues. This person may or may not be one of the three user types.
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Creating a case in E-Verify before a job offer has been accepted and Form I-9 is complete.
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This user type creates user accounts at his or her site. He or she can view reports, create cases, update account information, and unlock user accounts.
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An employee that has chosen to contest an SSA or DHS Tentative Nonconfirmation result is provided with the appropriate agency Referral Letter instructing him or her to contact or visit the government within eight federal government workdays from the date of referral to initiate the resolution of their E-Verify case.
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In some cases E-Verify returns a case result of ‘Employment Authorized,’ but the name shown as authorized does not match exactly the name you entered in E-Verify from the employee’s Form I-9. This can happen because of name variations in DHS records.
If the names do not match, the case must be sent to DHS for review. Taking this step ensures that the record associated with the ‘Employment Authorized’ case result belongs to the employee whose information entered in E-Verify.
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In some instances, a case status of ‘Review and Update Employee Data’ may occur. This means that SSA found a discrepancy in the information it received in the E-Verify referral. This may occur because of typographical errors and/or incorrect information on Form I-9. The Form I-9 will need to be reviewed with the employee, the information corrected as applicable, and then the case can be resubmitted.
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The Federal government agency that administers a national program of contributory social insurance whereby employees, employers, and the self-employed pay contributions that are pooled in special trust funds. SSA and DHS jointly manage the E-Verify program.
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After an employee is advised of a Tentative Nonconfirmation and has signed the Notice to Employee of Tentative Nonconfirmation, the employee is referred to SSA to resolve the TNC.
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The employee information was compared to government records and could not be verified. This does not mean that the employee is not authorized to work, or that the information provided was incorrect. The employee must contact or visit either SSA or DHS to resolve the discrepancy and continue employment.
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A 9-digit number listed on the front of Permanent Resident Cards (Form I-551) issued after May 10, 2010 that is the same as the Alien Registration Number. The “A” number can also be found on the back of these Permanent Resident Cards.
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The user ID is a system-generated ID with letters and numbers that identifies the user of a computer system or network. All people who create cases must have their own user IDs. The user ID must be 8 characters and may be letters, numbers, or a combination of both. A user ID is not case sensitive.
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