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

As of October 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. California goes the other way and restricts 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.

State-by-state guides

State E-Verify mandates

I-9 process guides

Each row links to a full guide with the statute, rule or agency source, checked as of September or October 2026.

States that require E-Verify for every private employer

Mississippi reached every employer by steps rather than at once: public bodies, public contractors and private employers of 250 or more from July 2008, then 100 or more, then 30 or more, and every remaining employer from July 1, 2011. The 30-employee figure still quoted in a lot of summaries was the third of those steps, not the rule that applies now.

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, include work in the United States, and have a period of performance of 120 days or more, other than contracts only for commercially available off-the-shelf items; it flows down to subcontracts for services or construction above $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, unless it is an institution of higher education, a state or local government, a federally recognized tribal government or a surety under a takeover agreement, which may limit verification to employees assigned to the contract. 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

California runs the opposite direction: it bars state and local government from requiring E-Verify, and adds rules for the private employers who choose to use it anyway. Illinois did the same until December 2025.

• California: under Labor Code § 2812 (AB 1236, 2011), no state or local government entity may require a private employer to use E-Verify as a condition of a contract or business license, or as a penalty, except as federal law or a federal funding condition requires. Under Labor Code § 2814 (AB 622, effective January 1, 2016), it is unlawful to use E-Verify on an existing employee, or on an applicant who has not received an offer, at a time or in a manner federal law does not require or the E-Verify memorandum of understanding does not authorize; employers must pass on federal notices after a tentative nonconfirmation. Misuse carries a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation, and each unlawful check is a separate violation.
• Illinois: no longer. The Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act's E-Verify provisions, 820 ILCS 55/12 and 55/13 as amended effective January 1, 2025, were repealed by Public Act 104-455 (SB 2339), effective December 12, 2025, together with the penalties tied to them. The act now addresses mismatch notices from agencies that do not enforce immigration law, such as the Social Security Administration, but has no E-Verify-specific rules.

California does not ban a private employer from using E-Verify. It regulates when and on whom it is used once an employer opts in, which matters for a staffing agency operating in both a mandate state and California.

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 the E-Verify memorandum of understanding forbids and California specifically penalizes.

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, 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.