Two questions, one confusing name
“Employment eligibility” means work authorization: is this person legally allowed to work in the United States, for you, starting now. That's an I-9 and, in some cases, an E-Verify question. It's a completely different thing from confirming someone's prior salary or job title, which is what employment verification services like Truework or The Work Number actually do. If you landed here wanting the second one, that guide is the right stop instead.
Step one: Form I-9, for every hire, no exceptions
Every US employer completes Form I-9 for every new employee, full legal name aside. The employee fills out Section 1 by their first day of work. You examine original identity and work-authorization documents — a US passport alone, or a driver's license plus an unrestricted Social Security card, are the common combinations — and complete Section 2 within three business days of the hire date. This is a paperwork requirement, not a judgment call: you accept documents that reasonably appear genuine and belong to the person presenting them, you don't investigate further, and you can't specify which documents from the list an employee must produce.
You're required to physically examine the documents in person, with one narrow exception: the remote I-9 verification process, available only to employers enrolled in E-Verify, following a specific three-step procedure.
Step two: E-Verify, if it applies to you
E-Verify is a separate, optional-for-most-employers government system that cross-checks I-9 information against Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security records. It's mandatory for federal contractors under certain contracts, and a number of states require it for some or all employers — check your state's specific rule rather than assuming it does or doesn't apply to you. Enrolled or not, E-Verify never replaces the I-9. It runs alongside it.
Enter the I-9 information into E-Verify within three business days of the hire, and one of two things happens: an Employment Authorized result, meaning done, or a Tentative Nonconfirmation, a mismatch that isn't a rejection — the employee gets the chance to contest it before you can act. That process has its own set of rules and deadlines, covered fully in what a TNC actually means and how it resolves.
What E-Verify doesn't do
It's not a background check
Employment authorization confirms someone can legally work. It says nothing about their criminal history, prior job performance, or whether their resume is accurate — those are separate checks, run separately.
Common mistakes, in order of how often they happen
- Asking for specific documents.Requiring a green card specifically, or refusing an unexpired document because it “looks unfamiliar,” is document abuse under federal anti-discrimination law — the employee chooses from the list, not you.
- Reverifying documents that never expire.A common and costly error — see I-9 reverification rules for exactly which documents do and don't trigger it, since asking unnecessarily is its own violation.
- Starting E-Verify before the hire accepts the job. E-Verify can only run after someone has accepted an offer and completed the I-9, never as a pre-screening step.
- Treating a TNC as grounds for immediate termination. You cannot take adverse action while an employee is actively contesting a mismatch within the window they're given.
Where to check the current rule
This changes; verify anything time-sensitive against e-verify.gov and USCIS I-9 Central directly rather than a guide, this one included. If you're also screening for criminal history or verifying a resume claim as part of onboarding, that's a separate process — see background check platforms for that side of hiring.