E-Verify requirements by state: who has to use it, and who cannot require it

As of September 2026, there is no federal law requiring every U.S. employer to use E-Verify. It is required for federal contractors covered by a specific contract clause, and separately required by a growing list of state laws, some covering every private employer and some only above a size threshold. Two states go the other way and restrict how a private employer may use it. Which rule applies to a given hire depends on where the employee works, not on where the company is headquartered.

States that require E-Verify for every private employer

Despite the "all employer" framing commonly used for these four, Mississippi's statute in fact carries a 30-employee floor, not a true no-threshold mandate; we list it here because that threshold is low enough to cover nearly every employer with a real headcount.

States that require it above an employee-count threshold

This is not a complete list of every state with any E-Verify obligation. Several additional states require it only for public employers, state contractors, or employers seeking a state economic incentive, categories we did not attempt to summarize here because the qualifying conditions vary too much to state in one line. Check your state's labor department if your business does any work for a public agency.

Federal contractors: a separate rule that overrides state law either way

Regardless of what the employer's state requires, a federal contract that includes FAR clause 52.222-54 obligates the contractor to use E-Verify. The clause generally attaches to contracts awarded on or after September 8, 2009 that are valued above $150,000, performed in the United States, and longer than 120 days, with covered subcontracts starting around $3,500. A contractor must enroll within 30 days of the award and, per the clause, verify not only employees assigned to the federal contract but every new hire company-wide. This applies even in a state, like California, that otherwise bars the state itself from mandating E-Verify.

States that restrict how E-Verify may be used

Two states run the opposite direction: they bar state and local government from requiring E-Verify, and add rules for the private employers who choose to use it anyway.

• California (Assembly Bill 1236): no state or local government entity may require an employer to use E-Verify. An employer that chooses to use it must apply it consistently to all new hires and may not use it to pre-screen an applicant before an offer. Misuse carries a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation.
• Illinois (Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act, amended by SB0508 effective January 1, 2025): adds notice and process requirements for employers using E-Verify, including how a tentative nonconfirmation must be handled. A willful and knowing violation is a civil penalty of $2,000 to $5,000 for a first violation and $5,000 to $10,000 for each later one, plus costs and fees.

Neither state bans a private employer from using E-Verify. Both regulate how it is used once an employer opts in, which matters for a staffing agency operating in both a mandate state and one of these two.

E-Verify does not replace Form I-9, and the timing matters

E-Verify draws on the information the employee and employer already entered on Form I-9, and cannot be run before that form is complete. A recruiter or onboarding coordinator in a mandate state needs the I-9 finished, not just started, before creating the E-Verify case, and most state statutes above set their own short clock (commonly three business days) for running the check once the I-9 is done. Running E-Verify before the I-9 is complete, or using it during screening before an offer, is not compliance in any state on this page; it is closer to the misuse California and Illinois specifically prohibit.

Multi-state and staffing-agency employers

A company with a headquarters in a no-mandate state can still owe E-Verify compliance for an individual hire, because the statutes above generally look at where the employee works, not where the employer is based. A staffing agency placing workers across state lines should track this per placement:

• A worker placed in Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi or South Carolina is covered by that state's all-employer rule regardless of the agency's size or home state.
• A worker placed in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee or Utah is covered only once the relevant employer or placement counts toward that state's threshold; read the specific statute's definition of "employer," since some count company-wide headcount and some count employees in that state only.
• A client's own federal contract can pull the agency into the FAR clause, separate from any state mandate, if the agency's workers are assigned to that contract.

A worked example: one agency, three states

This is an invented example to show how the thresholds interact, not a real company. Suppose a staffing agency headquartered in Texas, which has no state-level E-Verify mandate for private employers, places 40 contract employees this quarter: 12 in Georgia, 20 in Florida and 8 in Utah.

• Georgia: the agency's Georgia business license already required an E-Verify affidavit under O.C.G.A. § 36-60-6 once it passed 10 employees there, so all 12 Georgia placements need to run through E-Verify regardless of the agency's total headcount.
• Florida: Florida's threshold counts the employer's total headcount, not just Florida headcount. If the agency has 25 or more employees company-wide, all 20 Florida placements are covered under Fla. Stat. § 448.095, even though 20 alone would not have triggered it.
• Utah: Utah's 150-employee threshold is far above this agency's size, so the 8 Utah placements are not covered by the state mandate. The agency can still use E-Verify there voluntarily if it wants one process across all three states.

The lesson from the example: reading only the agency's home-state law, or only the placement-state headcount, produces the wrong answer in both Georgia and Florida here. Check each state's own definition of "employer" against the agency's actual, company-wide facts.

A checklist before opening a role in a new state

1. Identify the state where the work will actually be performed, including for a remote hire.
2. Check whether that state mandates E-Verify, and at what employee count, against the state's own statute or labor department page, not a secondary summary.
3. Check whether the role sits on a federal contract that carries FAR clause 52.222-54 independent of state law.
4. If the state restricts E-Verify use, like California or Illinois, confirm your process does not run a check before an offer and follows that state's notice requirements.
5. Complete Form I-9 in full before creating the E-Verify case, and track each state's own deadline for running the check after hire.
6. Keep verification records for as long as the applicable state requires, which is not uniform across the states above.

For the paperwork sequence around a new hire more broadly, see the contractor onboarding checklist. For whether your agency needs a state license to operate in the first place, see employment agency license requirements.