U.S. government funding is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on December 3, 2021. A lapse in appropriations would cause a partial government shutdown impacting multiple services. Importantly, a lapse in appropriations would take the E-Verify system and E-Verify support offline.

In the event of a shutdown, Employers would not be able to create new E-Verify cases or resolve tentative nonconfirmations (TNCs). Employers would not be expected to meet the usual E-Verify deadline until the program is reauthorized. However, all employers and employees remain subject to Form I-9 obligations and deadlines even if E-Verify is offline.

While USCIS has not given any guidance pertaining to this particular potential shutdown, historically, USCIS has extended the time period in which employees may resolve TNCs by the number of days the federal government was closed.

After the 2013 and 2018-2019 shutdowns, employers were given three weeks to create new cases for employees hired during, or otherwise affected by, the shutdown and to select "other" and enter "federal government shutdown" when prompted to provide a reason why the case was being created more than three days after the employee began working. Employers may want to keep a list or spreadsheet of employees hired during or otherwise affected by the shutdown so that when E-Verify is back online their cases can be timely created.

Employers are reminded not to take any adverse action against an employee because of an E-Verify interim status case during a federal government shutdown.

This is an evolving situation that Business Information Group is monitoring and will continue to inform our clients of updates as they become available.

Posted: December 2, 2021