E-Verify employer agents: how the arrangement works, who does what, and how to switch or leave

An E-Verify employer agent is a person or company that creates and manages E-Verify cases for other employers, its clients, through its own agent account. As of November 2026, the agent signs an MOU with DHS and enrolls each client, and each client signs a separate three-party MOU with DHS and the agent. The client still completes Form I-9, displays the posters, holds the private conversation about any mismatch and may not take adverse action while a case is pending. DHS does not certify agents or regulate their fees, and E-Verify+ is not available through an agent.

This page is for employers deciding whether to use an agent, clients who want to know where their duties end, and HR service providers acting as agents. It is not about staffing agencies verifying their own temps, which is covered in E-Verify for staffing agencies.

What is an employer agent, and what is it not?

The agent guide's Section 1.0 defines an E-Verify employer agent as any person, company or other entity that provides the service of using E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of employees of third-party employers. The manual's glossary notes agents were formerly called designated agents. Section 1.3 of the User Manual lists two agent access methods, E-Verify Employer Agent access and Web Services access for E-Verify Employer Agents, and says an agent may also create cases for its own employees. e-verify.gov's page on using an employer agent says agents often offer E-Verify alongside background checks, legal or accounting services, payroll and Form I-9 management.

Three roles are often confused with it:

• An I-9 authorized representative examines documents and completes Section 2 of Form I-9 for an employer. That is a Form I-9 role, not an E-Verify account; see I-9 authorized representatives.
• A corporate administrator manages several E-Verify accounts belonging to one employer; the corporate administrator account itself cannot create or manage cases.
• A staffing agency that employs the worker is the employer, not an agent, and runs E-Verify under its own employer account.

Which agreements get signed?

The agent MOU puts the agent on the hook for its clients: "It is the E-Verify Employer Agent's responsibility to ensure that its clients are in compliance with all E-Verify policies and procedures" (Article II.B). It also says E-Verify does not train clients; the agent must (Article II.A.8). The client MOU's employer duties mirror the ordinary employer MOU, explained in the E-Verify memorandum of understanding.

How does a company become a client?

1. Give the agent your details. The client guide's Section 2.0 lists them: legal name, physical and mailing addresses, EIN, total employees, the first three digits of your NAICS code, the address of each participating hiring site, whether you are a federal contractor with the FAR clause or a government employer, and contact details for your MOU signatory and any other contact.
2. The agent enrolls you from its Clients menu: employer category, company information, NAICS code, hiring sites and the MOU signatory (agent guide 2.1). Agents must enter the complete address of every client hiring site. When a remote hire's Form I-9 is completed by a third-party agent, the hiring site is the agent's location, not the employee's home.
3. Your signatory signs electronically. E-Verify emails the signatory a link, and the agent guide says the client has 24 hours to view, sign or decline. If the link expires, the agent can resend it (2.1.2).
4. The agent hands over the materials. It must give you the E-Verify User Manual and the E-Verify Participation and Right to Work posters in English and Spanish, and the client guide says it should send new posters when DHS updates them.
5. You display the posters where applicants and employees can see them, including for remote hires, which can mean online or with application materials; see E-Verify posters.
6. Cases begin. Once the MOU is signed, the agent can create cases for you.

Who does what once cases start?

The mismatch handoff is where deadlines slip, because the 10 federal government working days do not pause between companies. The agent guide's Section 3.1.1 also says that if the employee gives no decision within 10 federal government working days, the agent closes the case and indicates whether the employee still works for the client. The full notice steps are in E-Verify Further Action Notice; the process and the no-adverse-action rule are in E-Verify tentative nonconfirmation.

What changes when a client wins a federal contract?

• The client must tell its agent immediately (client MOU Article II.A.21).
• The agent must update the client's profile to "Federal Contractor with FAR E-Verify clause" within 30 days of the contract award date (agent MOU Article II.A.11), and set the federal contractor category and which employees will be verified.
• The agent's users take the federal contractor tutorial once, after the first client update, according to E-Verify's FAQ.
• The agent updates its own profile only if the agent itself holds a contract with the clause (e-verify.gov).
• A subcontractor may use any agent, not only its prime contractor.

Deadlines and which employees to verify are in the E-Verify federal contractor rule.

How do you switch agents or bring E-Verify in-house?

The client guide's Section 3.0 sets the order:

1. Choose the new agent, which enrolls you as a new client, or enroll your company yourself under the employer access method; see E-Verify enrollment steps.
2. Keep working with the former agent until it closes your open cases, such as mismatches and Case in Continuance.
3. Ask the former agent for a report of your cases before your old client account closes. Cases cannot be transferred to a new agent, and you lose access once the account closes. The client MOU (Article V.B.5) adds that E-Verify cannot provide the employer with its records; you must get them from the agent.
4. The former agent closes your client account, and E-Verify emails it a confirmation to pass on to you.

How does a client account end?

Termination needs 30 days' notice. The agent submits it in E-Verify or by email (agent guide 2.3), the client shows Pending Termination for 30 days, and the agent can update the reason or cancel during that time. Meanwhile the agent must resolve the client's open cases and create no new ones. E-Verify can close an account sooner in listed situations, such as a company that no longer exists or duplicate accounts (FAQ). An agent with an active MOU with a client can also act as the client's authorized representative to end the client's own separate employer account, and a client may keep its own account even when it uses an agent (FAQ).

What should you ask before hiring an agent?

These questions follow from the duties above; they are not an official E-Verify list.

• What do you charge? DHS does not regulate agent fees.
• How, and how fast, do results, Further Action Notices and Referral Date Confirmations reach us?
• Which secure channel carries Form I-9 data and document copies?
• Who trains our HR staff, and how do you send manual and poster updates?
• Do you connect through web services? If so, are you on Interface Control Agreement version 32?
• Will you close every case and report each final result?
• If we leave, what case report do we get, and in what format?

What changed recently?

• ICA version 32. E-Verify released it to web services developers on September 22, 2026, with optional automated client company enrollment for employer agents and support for a new requirement to provide a hiring site with each case; integration and acceptance testing must be finished by March 31, 2027 (notice).
• Client contacts. Since January 5, 2026, general users on employer agent accounts can manage client point of contact information from the Clients menu (notice).
• Sign-in. Since July 1, 2025, browser users sign in through Login.gov with multifactor authentication; the change does not apply to web services access.
• E-Verify+. The combined Form I-9 and E-Verify service is not currently available to employer agents or web services users, according to e-verify.gov/plus.