E-Verify requirements in Arkansas: the 2026 mandate for state entities, and what contractors certify instead

As of October 2026, Arkansas requires E-Verify of its own government employers and nobody else. Act 948 of 2025, which started as House Bill 1974, added the "E-Verify Requirement Act" to the Arkansas Code at §§ 21-3-901 through 21-3-906. It was approved on April 21, 2025 and took effect January 1, 2026. Covered employers must register for E-Verify, treat each new hire as provisional until the case confirms work authorization, and keep the verification record. Enforcement by the Department of Labor and Licensing began July 1, 2026, with a 30-day window to fix any problem it finds.

Private businesses are not covered. State contractors are not required to use E-Verify either; they sign a different certificate, about not employing illegal immigrants, that predates the new act by almost two decades.

Who the Arkansas rules reach

The employer definition reads, in full: "a state government department, board, bureau, political subdivision, or agency licensed under statute or rule to operate in this state." Read naturally, that takes in counties, cities and other political subdivisions alongside state agencies. The act's title and findings, though, speak only of "state entities" and "state government jobs." Until the department or a court says otherwise, a city, county or school district hiring in Arkansas should assume it is covered and talk to its own counsel.

What Act 948 requires of a covered employer

1. Register. Create an E-Verify employer account (§ 21-3-903(a)(1)). See E-Verify enrollment steps for the federal process.
2. Treat the hire as provisional. After hiring, the employer "shall employ provisionally" the employee until E-Verify has verified work authorization (§ 21-3-903(a)(2)(A)).
3. Submit every new hire, even one whose employment ends less than three business days after it began (§ 21-3-903(a)(2)(B)). A short-lived seasonal or temporary hire still needs a case.
4. Keep the record for the length of the employee's employment or three years, whichever is longer (§ 21-3-903(a)(2)(C)). That differs from the federal Form I-9 formula; see I-9 retention rules and keep both clocks.
5. Do not employ, keep employing or rehire someone whose work authorization E-Verify does not verify (§ 21-3-903(a)(3)).

Two limits matter. Employees hired before the act's effective date are exempt, and the act does not require verifying or reverifying a current employee where federal law does not (§ 21-3-903(b)). Section 21-3-904 keeps the federal Form I-9 obligation in place, so the I-9 is still completed for every hire; E-Verify runs from it.

The phrase "not verified" in § 21-3-903(a)(3) should be read alongside the federal program rules. A tentative nonconfirmation is not a final result, and the E-Verify memorandum of understanding bars adverse action while the employee contests it. Ending a provisional employment on a tentative result would put the employer in breach of the MOU, so HR teams at state agencies need a written process for the contest period.

Enforcement: a request for records, then a cure period

• The Department of Labor and Licensing may request, and the employer must provide, copies of any documentation it relied on to verify a new employee (§ 21-3-906(a)).
• Whoever makes that request must rely on the federal government to determine eligibility and may not make an independent final determination that someone is an unauthorized alien (§ 21-3-906(b)).
• Beginning July 1, 2026, if the department determines an employer failed to use E-Verify, it must notify the employer and give it 30 days to cure (§ 21-3-906(c)).
• Section 21-3-905 separately bars covered employers from employing an unauthorized alien and presumes a violation where the employer failed to comply with the subchapter.

The act names no fine, no license consequence and no private right of action. For a public employer the practical exposure is an audit finding and the presumption in § 21-3-905, not a penalty schedule.

State contractors: a certificate, not an E-Verify requirement

Arkansas has barred state agencies since 2007 from contracting with businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants. The rule was Ark. Code § 19-11-105 until Act 419 of 2025 repealed and recodified Title 19; the same text now sits at § 19-60-105, and the Office of State Procurement's certificate (revised August 2025) cites the new number. Under the recodified section:

• It applies to a contractor holding a public contract with a state agency for professional services, technical and general services, or any category of construction worth $25,000 or more. Constitutional offices, the General Assembly, the courts and certain other bodies are exempt agencies.
• Before the contract is executed, the contractor certifies it does not employ or contract with an illegal immigrant. A subcontractor certifies within 30 days after the subcontract is executed.
• If a contractor violates the section, the state requires a remedy within 60 days; after that, the contract is terminated for breach and the contractor is liable for the state's actual damages.

Nothing in that section requires E-Verify. A contractor can sign the certificate on the strength of a sound Form I-9 process. Some contractors enroll anyway so they have a verification record behind the signature, which is a business choice rather than an Arkansas requirement.

Private employers, and the neighbors that do require more

An Arkansas private employer completes Form I-9 for every hire, and uses E-Verify only by choice or because a federal contract requires it. Under FAR 22.1803, clause 52.222-54 is placed in federal contracts above $150,000, subject to exceptions for work only outside the United States, performance periods under 120 days, and commercially available off-the-shelf items. Prime contractors flow it down to subcontracts for services or construction above $3,500. That reaches military construction and depot work as easily as anything in a mandate state.

Arkansas is surrounded by states with tougher rules, which matters for staffing firms in Fort Smith, Texarkana, West Memphis or northwest Arkansas that place people across the line:

The full comparison is in E-Verify requirements by state.

Staffing agencies supplying state and local government

Act 948 binds the public employer, not the vendor. When an agency places contract workers at a state agency, the agency is normally the employer that completes Form I-9, and Act 948's "employee" definition (a person directed, allowed or permitted to perform labor or services for a state employer) does not on its face make the agency's workers the state's hires. Expect two practical effects anyway: the agency signs the § 19-60-105 certificate on any contract of $25,000 or more, and some agencies will ask vendors for proof of E-Verify enrollment as a contract term. If you enroll, the federal MOU applies to every new hire at the enrolled site; see E-Verify for staffing agencies.

A worked example

This is an invented example. A county road department in Arkansas hires six seasonal laborers in May 2026. One quits after two days. Reading the employer definition as including political subdivisions, the county completes Form I-9 for all six, creates an E-Verify case for each, including the one who left after two days, and files the case results with the I-9s. One case returns a tentative nonconfirmation; the worker contests it and keeps working while the case is open. The county keeps the records for at least three years, longer for anyone still employed after that. Separately, the gravel supplier it buys from under a $40,000 contract signs the state's illegal-immigrant certificate but is not required to use E-Verify.

An Arkansas checklist

1. Public employer? Confirm you have an E-Verify account and that every hire since January 1, 2026 has a case.
2. Write down how you handle a tentative nonconfirmation so a provisional hire is not dropped before the case ends.
3. Keep verification records for the longer of employment or three years, alongside the federal I-9 retention period.
4. State contractor? Sign the § 19-60-105 certificate before execution and collect subcontractor certificates within 30 days.
5. Private employer with no federal clause? E-Verify is optional; Form I-9 is not.
6. Placing workers in Mississippi, Tennessee or Missouri? Apply that state's rule to those placements.