E-Verify requirements in Illinois: no mandate, and the 2025 E-Verify rules have been repealed

As of October 2026, Illinois does not require any employer to use E-Verify, and it no longer has its own statute regulating how employers that choose E-Verify must use it. The E-Verify sections of the Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act, Sections 12 and 13 of 820 ILCS 55, were repealed by Public Act 104-455 (SB 2339), which took effect when it became law on December 12, 2025. Many summaries written in 2025 still describe the old Illinois notice, training and penalty rules as current. They are not.

What remains for an Illinois employer is federal: Form I-9 for every hire, the E-Verify memorandum of understanding if it enrolls, and the FAR clause if it holds a covered federal contract. Plus one new state rule about mismatch notices from agencies such as the Social Security Administration.

Who is covered in Illinois

What was repealed, and why it matters

Section 12 of the act dealt with employers' use of employment eligibility verification systems such as E-Verify, and Section 13 with related employee protections. Both were last amended by Public Act 103-879, effective January 1, 2025. Before the repeal, the act's remedies section carried its own penalties tied to them, including $500 per affected employee for willful and knowing violations of parts of Section 12 and $2,000 to $5,000 for a first willful and knowing violation of Section 13; Public Act 104-455 struck those.

Public Act 104-455 states in its Section 10 that the Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act "is amended by repealing Sections 12 and 13," and its effective-date section says the act takes effect upon becoming law. The General Assembly's posted statute now lists both sections as "(Repealed)," with the note "Repealed by P.A. 104-455, eff. 12-12-25." The penalty tied to Section 13 is gone with them.

For a recruiter, the change removes Illinois-specific E-Verify steps that some employers built into onboarding in 2025. It does not make anything that the federal E-Verify rules prohibit newly allowed. The federal E-Verify MOU still forbids creating a case before a firm offer has been extended and accepted and Form I-9 is complete, still forbids pre-employment screening, still requires verifying all new hires at an enrolled site rather than selectively, and still forbids adverse action while a tentative nonconfirmation is being contested.

Illinois has a history here. In September 2007 the U.S. Department of Justice sued Illinois over a state law that barred employers from enrolling in E-Verify at all. Illinois law has since moved from that ban, to regulation of use, to the current position of saying nothing specific about E-Verify.

The new Section 14: mismatch notices from non-immigration agencies

The same act added Section 14. It applies when an employer receives a written notification from a federal agency or outside vendor not responsible for enforcing immigration law, including the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service or an insurance company, of a discrepancy in an employee's individual taxpayer identification number or other identifying documents. In that case:

1. The employer may not take any adverse action against the employee solely because of the notification.
2. The employer must notify the employee, and the employee's authorized representative if any, as soon as practicable and no later than 5 business days after receiving the notification or after deciding the employee must respond, whichever is longer, unless federal law or a collective bargaining agreement sets a shorter time. Delivery is by hand if possible, otherwise by mail and email.
3. The notice must explain that the agency or vendor reported that the employee's documents do not appear to match, give any federally required time period to contest, and say what action the employer is requiring.
4. The employee may bring a representative of their choosing to any related meeting.

Section 14 applies to public and private employers. Section 25 provides that no penalty is imposed for a Section 14 violation if the employer acted in good-faith reliance on guidance from the Illinois Department of Labor or the federal Department of Homeland Security, or made a bona fide administrative error that did not affect the employee's employment or pay.

Whether an E-Verify tentative nonconfirmation counts as a "written notification" under Section 14 is not addressed in the text we reviewed; E-Verify is operated by DHS with the Social Security Administration. We could not confirm how the Department of Labor reads it. The federal process already requires a private notice, a chance to contest and no adverse action in the meantime, so an employer following the federal tentative nonconfirmation steps is close to Section 14's terms either way.

Penalties and enforcement under the act as amended

• Civil penalties (Section 18): $100 to $1,000 for each violation; $1,000 to $5,000 for each violation where the employer commits a second or later violation of the same provisions within three years.
• Private suits (Section 17): $100 to $1,000 per violation found by a court; where the violation relates to denial or loss of employment, reinstatement, back pay with interest and a $10,000 civil penalty; plus damages, costs, expert fees and attorney's fees. The limitations period is three years.
• Other enforcement: the Department of Labor (Section 15), the Attorney General, and qualifying not-for-profit or labor organizations acting as "interested parties" (Section 16) may also bring actions.

Federal contractors in Illinois

Nothing in Illinois law affects the federal contractor rule. Under FAR 22.1803, clause 52.222-54 goes into federal contracts over $150,000 unless performed only outside the United States, shorter than 120 days, or only for commercially available off-the-shelf items, and flows down to services or construction subcontracts over $3,500 with work in the United States. A covered contractor enrolls within 30 calendar days of award and verifies new hires company-wide and employees assigned to the contract.

Staffing agencies and recruiters in Illinois

• No Illinois placement creates a state E-Verify duty. If the agency is enrolled, the employer of record that completes Form I-9 runs the case; see E-Verify for staffing agencies.
• Remove any Illinois-only E-Verify steps built in 2025 from onboarding scripts and posters only after counsel confirms; keep the federal E-Verify posters if enrolled.
• Build a Section 14 workflow for Social Security, IRS or insurer mismatch letters: no adverse action on the letter alone, written notice within 5 business days, and a record of delivery.
• Illinois has separate rules for day and temporary labor service agencies and private employment agencies; see staffing agency license requirements in Illinois.

A worked example

This is an invented example. A Chicago light-industrial staffing firm enrolled in E-Verify in 2024 and, in 2025, added Illinois-specific steps to its process to follow the then-current Sections 12 and 13. In January 2026 it receives a letter from an insurer saying a worker's Social Security number does not match its records. Under Section 14, it keeps the worker on assignment, hands the worker a written notice within 5 business days explaining the mismatch and what it is asking the worker to do, and lets the worker bring a representative to the follow-up meeting. Separately, it keeps running E-Verify for every new hire at its enrolled site within three business days of hire, as the federal MOU requires, and reviews its 2025 Illinois-specific steps with counsel now that the sections behind them are repealed.

An Illinois checklist

1. Treat E-Verify as voluntary unless a federal contract with FAR 52.222-54 applies.
2. If enrolled, follow the federal MOU: every new hire at the site, after an accepted offer and a completed Form I-9, within three business days; see I-9 timing in hiring.
3. Update any 2025 Illinois E-Verify procedures that cite 820 ILCS 55/12 or 55/13.
4. Set up a Section 14 response for non-immigration mismatch letters.
5. For workers placed outside Illinois, check the state where they actually work; see E-Verify requirements by state.