E-Verify for rehired employees: when to create a new case and when Supplement B is enough

For a rehire, E-Verify gives you two lawful routes: treat every rehire as a new hire, with a new Form I-9 and a new E-Verify case, or record the rehire on Supplement B of the earlier Form I-9 and create a case only when the rules require one. As of November 2026, the E-Verify User Manual (Section 2.1.2) says you may skip a new case only if the person is rehired within three years of the date the earlier Form I-9 was first completed, you created a case from that form, and it ended in Employment Authorized. Otherwise a new Form I-9 and a new case are required, due by the third business day after the rehire starts work for pay. And if the person never stopped being your employee, it is not a rehire at all.

Is the returning worker a rehire at all?

Check this first, because a continuing employee gets neither a new Form I-9 nor a new E-Verify case. Under 8 CFR 274a.2(b)(1)(viii), an employer is not deemed to have hired someone who is continuing in employment and has a reasonable expectation of employment at all times. The regulation lists the situations: approved paid or unpaid leave, a promotion, demotion or raise, a temporary layoff for lack of work, a strike or labor dispute, reinstatement after a suspension found unjustified, a transfer between units of the same employer, and continuing with a related, successor or reorganized employer that keeps the earlier records. Seasonal work can also qualify; see I-9 for seasonal and returning workers, and I-9 for rehires for the factors USCIS uses to judge a reasonable expectation of return. Someone who resigned or was terminated and later comes back is a rehire.

When does a rehire need a new E-Verify case?

Section 2.1.2 turns on three facts: how long since the earlier Form I-9 was first completed, whether you created a case from it, and how that case ended.

The manual puts the last row in every branch: wherever Supplement B is allowed, it adds "or" complete a new Form I-9 and create a new case. E-Verify's own rehire FAQ says the same, though it still uses the old name "Section 3"; the current form calls it Supplement B, Reverification and Rehire (formerly Section 3).

How do you measure the three years?

From the date the earlier Form I-9 was first completed. The regulation, 8 CFR 274a.2(c)(1)(i), says the earlier form is sufficient if the individual "is hired within three years of the date of the initial execution of the Form I-9" and the employer updates it with the rehire date, and the manual uses the same "initial execution" wording. The last day worked does not matter. If the original form cannot be found, there is nothing to attach Supplement B to, so the rehire gets a new form and a new case. The worked dates in I-9 for rehires show how the window catches people out.

"Received a result of Employment Authorized" means exactly that. An earlier case that ended in a Final Nonconfirmation, or was closed because the employee quit before the mismatch process finished, does not count, and neither does a form completed before your company enrolled in E-Verify. Search the account by Social Security number (Section 4.2) to see the earlier result rather than relying on memory.

What does the Supplement B route look like for an E-Verify employer?

1. Confirm the earlier case ended in Employment Authorized and the earlier form was first completed less than three years ago.
2. Use a current edition. As of November 2026, uscis.gov lists 01/20/25 as the edition date of the current Form I-9 and also accepts the 08/01/23 edition with an expiration date of 05/31/2027; the other 08/01/23 printing expired on 07/31/2026. If the earlier form is an old version, Handbook Section 6.2 says to complete a new block in Supplement B on the current version and keep it with the earlier form.
3. Write the rehire date in Supplement B, with the employee's name at the top of the page and any name change in the New Name field.
4. Reverify only if a document requires it. If an expired List A or List C document on the form triggers reverification, record the updated document the employee chooses to present. An expired U.S. passport, passport card, green card or List B document needs no new document.
5. Sign, date and attach the section to the earlier form, using a new section for each later rehire, as the Form I-9 instructions require.
6. Do not create a case. The manual says so in each Supplement B branch.

If you examine the reverification document remotely under the DHS alternative procedure, USCIS says to check the alternative procedure box in Supplement B; see I-9 remote verification. The reverification rules themselves are in I-9 reverification.

What does the new-case route look like?

• A complete new Form I-9. Section 1 by the first day of work, including the Social Security number E-Verify needs; Section 2 within three business days; any List B document must have a photo.
• Copies. If the employee presents a U.S. passport, passport card, Permanent Resident Card or Employment Authorization Document and you will create a new case, section 2.1.2 says to copy it and keep it with the Form I-9 for photo matching.
• The usual deadline. Create the case no later than the third business day after the rehire starts work for pay, entering the first day of employment from Section 2 of the new form. See the E-Verify three-day rule.
• Expect a duplicate alert. The Duplicate Case Alert appears because the Social Security number matches an earlier case, and section 2.5 names a rehire as a reason to continue. If the earlier case was created within the last 365 days, the Duplicate Cases Found alert appears too, and any earlier case still open must be closed first. See E-Verify duplicate cases.
• Do not ask for particular documents. Section 2.1.2 repeats the rule: do not specify or request which document a newly hired employee must use.

Should you use one approach for every rehire?

The manual frames the choice as a policy, "treating all rehired employees as new hires," or using Supplement B and creating cases only for rehires who need one. Picking the route person by person invites the problem the MOU warns about: Article II.A.11 forbids selective verification, and Article II.A.14 says unlawful discrimination in verification can include selective verification and treating people differently because of national origin or citizenship status. Write one rule into your onboarding procedure, apply it at every hiring site, and note it in the file when a required exception, such as an expired three-year window, applies.

What about returning temps?

For staffing agencies the continuing-employment question comes first. A temp who stays in the agency's active pool between assignments, with a reasonable expectation of the next one, may never have stopped being the agency's employee; there is no new case per placement. A temp who was formally separated and later returns is a rehire, and the table above applies. Agencies that run several branches should look up the original Form I-9 and the earlier case centrally, because that is where the three-year test fails in practice. See E-Verify for staffing agencies for the pool date choice and Form I-9 for staffing agencies for the paperwork side.

What about federal contractors?

FAR 52.222-54(d)(1) says the clause does not require additional E-Verify verification for an employee "whose employment eligibility was previously verified by the Contractor through the E-Verify program." So the clause itself does not force a new case for a returning employee the contractor verified before; whether to create one follows the manual's rehire options above. A contractor verifying existing staff assigned to a contract may not create a second case for someone it already verified, under Article II.B.2 of the MOU; see E-Verify for existing employees.

A worked example

The names and dates are illustrative. Maria was hired on March 2, 2025; her Form I-9 was completed that day with an Employment Authorization Document as her List A document, and her E-Verify case came back Employment Authorized. She left in August 2025 and is rehired to start on February 1, 2027, within three years of March 2, 2025. Her old EAD has since expired. Under a Supplement B policy, HR writes her rehire date in Supplement B on a current edition, records the unexpired List A or List C document she chooses to present, and creates no case. Under a new-hire policy, HR completes a new Form I-9 and creates a case by Thursday, February 4. E-Verify shows the Duplicate Case Alert because her Social Security number matches the 2025 case, but not the Duplicate Cases Found alert, because that case is more than 365 days old; HR continues the case and gives a reason from E-Verify's list.

James is different. His 2024 case was closed as "The employee quit working for the employer" before his mismatch was resolved, so it never reached Employment Authorized. When he returns in 2026, he needs a new Form I-9 and a new case, whichever policy the employer follows.

Common rehire mistakes

A rehire checklist

• Decide first whether the person is continuing in employment or truly rehired.
• Find the original Form I-9 and its date of initial execution.
• Search E-Verify by Social Security number and note how the earlier case ended.
• Apply your written rehire policy: Supplement B where allowed, or a new form and case every time.
• For a new case, meet the three-business-day deadline and expect the duplicate alert.
• For Supplement B, use a current edition, reverify only when a List A or List C document requires it, and do not create a case.