Can you run E-Verify on existing employees? The federal contractor exception and the rules for everyone else

No, unless you are a federal contractor whose contract contains the FAR E-Verify clause, FAR 52.222-54. As of November 2026, the E-Verify memorandum of understanding (MOU) and User Manual bar every other employer from creating cases for employees hired before it signed the E-Verify terms, and every employer from creating a second case for someone it already verified. Federal contractors must verify existing employees assigned to a covered contract, within 90 days of enrollment or award or 30 days of assignment, whichever is later, and may choose to verify their whole workforce within 180 days. For everyone, the one tool that now flags current staff is the Status Change Report for invalidated work permits, and it calls for Form I-9 reverification, not a new case.

Who may verify existing employees in E-Verify?

The general rule is in Article II.A.11 of the MOU: the employer "must use E-Verify for all new employees," "will not verify selectively and will not verify employees hired before the effective date of this MOU." Section 1.5 of the manual repeats it, naming federal contractors with the FAR clause as the main exception. The MOU cites FAR subpart 22.18 and Executive Order 12989 as the authority for the contractor rule, and as of November 2026 both subpart 22.18 and the clause itself (January 2025 version) are still in the FAR on acquisition.gov.

What does the federal contractor exception require?

The clause covers each "employee assigned to the contract": someone hired after November 6, 1986 who is directly performing work in the United States under the contract. An employee who normally does support work, such as indirect or overhead functions, and performs no substantial duties on the contract is not directly performing work under it. The deadlines depend on whether you were already enrolled as a federal contractor at award (for which contracts carry the clause, see the E-Verify federal contractor rule):

A later contract restarts part of the clock. E-Verify's FAQ says a contractor that chose to verify only assigned employees gets 90 days from the award of a subsequent covered contract for existing employees working on it, though not if it had already chosen its entire workforce. Another FAQ says cases initiated within the 90 days meet the FAR timing even if they finish later, and must be closed once a final result comes back. Subcontractors under the flow-down have the same two options as the prime.

One housekeeping note: in the FAR Overhaul text for Part 22 published on acquisition.gov, subpart 22.18 keeps the same verification rules and the clause prescription moves from 22.1803 to 22.1802-2, per the FAR Overhaul Part 22 page. The clause number, 52.222-54, is unchanged.

Which existing employees are exempt or optional?

Source: Supplemental Guide Section 3.3, Figures 6 and 7. The guide adds that interim clearances do not exempt anyone, that a Transportation Worker Identification Credential does not qualify, that a background check alone is not enough, and that you should note a clearance exemption on the employee's Form I-9. If you choose to verify the optional groups, do it for all of them, the guide says, to avoid discrimination in the verification process.

How does a contractor verify an existing employee, step by step?

1. Wait for the contract. Section 9.4 says you may not sign up as a federal contractor with the FAR clause, or use E-Verify on current employees, until you are awarded a contract containing it.
2. Update the company profile. A program administrator selects Edit Employer Category, then Federal Contractor and Federal Contractor with FAR E-Verify Clause (or "None of these categories apply" if an organizational exception fits), per Section 9.1.
3. Choose which employees. "All new hires and all existing employees assigned to a Federal Contract," or the entire workforce. Once you begin verifying the entire existing workforce, that choice cannot be changed.
4. Complete the federal contractor tutorial. Section 9.2 says users must pass it before using E-Verify again.
5. Pick a Form I-9 method. Section 2.1 offers Option I, a new Form I-9 for every employee you will verify, or Option II, a new form where needed and updates to existing forms where allowed. Keep every earlier Form I-9 either way.
6. Under Option II, sort the forms. Section 2.1.1 requires a new Form I-9 when, among other cases, the employee's Section 1 work authorization has expired, their immigration status or name has changed, a List B document had no photo or you cannot tell, an expired document was accepted under older rules, or the earlier form did not comply when completed.
7. Update forms where allowed. Copy any unexpired Permanent Resident Card, EAD, U.S. passport or passport card; have the employee update Section 1 with a missing or changed Social Security number or a changed A-number. You do not need a newer version of a List B document that has since expired, and you may not ask for an unexpired version of an expired green card or passport you already copied (Section 2.1.1; MOU Article II.B.2).
8. Create the case. Because an existing employee's first day of employment is long past, E-Verify asks for a reason for delay; select "Federal Contractor with E-Verify Clause verifying an existing employee" (User Manual 2.2).

You do not have to notify existing employees one by one. E-Verify's FAQ says displaying the E-Verify Participation and Right to Work posters where prospective and existing employees can see them meets the MOU's notice requirement; see E-Verify poster requirements.

What is the Status Change Report, and does it let you re-run current staff?

It does not, and that is the point. E-Verify released the Status Change Report on June 20, 2025, while DHS was revoking EADs of certain people whose parole had been terminated, so employers could see which of their past cases used a work permit DHS later invalidated. A July 15, 2025 update added the revoked document number, and since August 11, 2026 the report also covers EAD categories A12 and C19 (Temporary Protected Status), C08 (pending asylum) and C09 (adjustment of status) as well as C11 (parole). E-Verify's guidance on invalidated EADs, updated November 3, 2026, says the report posts about every two weeks. What it tells you to do:

1. From the Reports tab, run the Status Change Report and download it.
2. For each current employee listed, compare the card number on the EAD used for their Form I-9 with the invalidated document number in the report.
3. If the numbers match, reverify the employee on Form I-9 Supplement B within a reasonable amount of time. The employee chooses any unexpired List A or List C document; do not accept the invalidated EAD even if it looks unexpired, and do not reverify List B identity documents.
4. Reverify an employee who shows you a USCIS notice that their EAD was invalidated even if they are not on the report. Former employees need no action.
5. Do not create a new E-Verify case.

The guidance is blunt about the end point: "You cannot continue employing a person who does not provide proof of current employment authorization." It is equally clear about the limits: you may not ask for more or different documents, require the same type of document as before, or reject documents that reasonably appear genuine. Clients of an employer agent get the report from their agent. For the Supplement B mechanics, see I-9 reverification, and for EADs that are extended rather than invalidated, I-9 EAD automatic extensions.

What about mergers, acquisitions and dormant accounts?

• Acquired employees. E-Verify's FAQ lets a buyer treat employees who continue with the successor as new hires, but then it must complete new Forms I-9 and create cases for all of them, without regard to citizenship or national origin, within three business days of their first day, using the merger or acquisition date. Treating them as continuing employees, which the Form I-9 regulation allows when the successor keeps the earlier records, means no cases. See I-9 for mergers and acquisitions.
• An account that sat unused. E-Verify's FAQ says an employer that deliberately stopped using its account for years should not go back and run the people it hired in the meantime; an employer that simply missed a recent new hire should create that case at once.

Do states add rules about checking current employees?

Some do, in the other direction. California's Labor Code section 2814 makes it unlawful to use E-Verify on an existing employee at a time or in a manner federal law does not require or the MOU does not authorize, with a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation; our California page flags the FAR entire-workforce option there as a question for counsel. Colorado's labor department is directed to tell employers that E-Verify cannot be used to check existing employees; see E-Verify requirements in Colorado.

What about temps and staffing agencies?

A temp who stays on an agency's payroll between assignments is an existing employee, so a client's request to "re-run" workers before they start is a request E-Verify does not allow, unless the work is under a federal contract whose clause flows down to the agency. In that case the agency verifies the existing employees it assigns to the contract on the FAR timeline. E-Verify for staffing agencies covers the flow-down and what a client contract can ask for.

Common mistakes

Mistakes in the other direction, verifying people who never should have been run, sit alongside the duplicate-case problems in E-Verify duplicate cases.