E-Verify requirements in Maryland: no state mandate, so federal contracts decide it

As of October 2026, Maryland has no E-Verify law. No statute requires private employers, the state, counties, municipalities or state contractors to use it, and Maryland does not restrict employers that use it voluntarily. The General Assembly last considered a mandate in 2013. Bill lists for every session since then show no bill whose title or synopsis mentions E-Verify.

That does not mean E-Verify is rare in Maryland. The state is home to many federal agencies and a large federal contracting sector, and for a contractor in that sector the federal E-Verify clause, not Annapolis, is what decides the question.

Who is covered in Maryland

The two Maryland bills, a decade and more ago

HB 355 (2012): every employer

The 2012 bill, sponsored by Delegate Schuh and others under the heading "Better Maryland - Immigration Reform," would have phased in a requirement that all employers in the state, including governmental units, register for E-Verify and verify every new hire through it. It would also have barred knowingly employing an unauthorized alien and applied similar rules to state and local contractors, subcontractors and grant recipients. The House Health and Government Operations Committee heard it in March 2012 and reported it unfavorably in April.

HB 317 (2013): public contracts and grants

The 2013 bill was narrower. According to the Department of Legislative Services' fiscal and policy note, it would have required state and local contractors, subcontractors and grant recipients to register for and use E-Verify, with exemptions including contracts and grants under $100,000. Before being paid, a covered employer would have certified under penalty of perjury that it had used E-Verify for everyone hired to work on the contract, and the Commissioner of Labor and Industry could have assessed civil penalties of up to $1,000 for each employee not lawfully eligible. The bill had a hearing on March 13, 2013 and went no further.

The fiscal note on HB 317 also recorded that several local governments had said they already used E-Verify voluntarily. That is still the pattern: individual Maryland public employers may enroll, but no state law makes them.

Federal contracting: where Maryland employers actually meet E-Verify

The federal clause is FAR 52.222-54. Under FAR 22.1803 it goes into contracts above $150,000, with exceptions for work only outside the United States, contracts shorter than 120 days, and contracts only for commercially available off-the-shelf items. It flows down to subcontracts for services or construction above $3,500 that include work in the United States, which in Maryland reaches deep into the IT services, engineering, facilities and staffing subcontracts that support federal agencies.

The obligations that follow are federal:

• Enroll within 30 calendar days of award, or of the subcontract that carries the clause.
• Verify new hires company-wide, not only those on the contract, unless the employer is one of the types the clause allows to limit verification to assigned employees, such as a state or local government or an institution of higher education.
• Verify existing employees when they are assigned to the contract, on the timelines in the clause.

For the enrollment mechanics, the company ID and the MOU, see E-Verify enrollment steps. A Maryland subcontractor should not wait for its prime to remind it; the 30-day clock runs from the subcontract.

The neighbors: Virginia's contractor rule is the one to watch

Maryland firms work across the Potomac constantly, and Virginia has a statute. Virginia requires its state agencies to use E-Verify, and requires employers that average more than 50 employees and hold a contract with a Virginia state agency worth more than $50,000 to use it too. A Bethesda or Silver Spring consulting firm with a Virginia agency contract can be covered there. See E-Verify requirements in Virginia.

The other neighbors add less. Pennsylvania requires E-Verify on publicly funded construction projects above $25,000, which matters to Maryland contractors near the Mason-Dixon line. West Virginia's E-Verify rule is limited to service providers working on the State Capitol Complex. Delaware has no E-Verify law. The whole map is in E-Verify requirements by state.

What every Maryland employer still does

Form I-9 for every new hire, with document review within three business days of the start date and retention for three years after hire or one year after employment ends, whichever is later. A Maryland employer that enrolls in E-Verify, whether for a federal contract or by choice, verifies every new hire at the enrolled site after the offer is accepted and the I-9 is complete, never uses the system to screen applicants, and takes no adverse action while a tentative nonconfirmation is being contested.

Setting up for company-wide verification

The company-wide feature of the federal clause catches Maryland firms off guard more than anything else. A contractor that expected to verify the dozen people on one task order instead finds that every new hire anywhere in the company must be run once the clause applies. A few decisions make that manageable:

• Who runs cases. Name the people with E-Verify user accounts in each office, and train them on the three-business-day timing and on closing every case.
• What happens after a mismatch. Write down the steps for a tentative nonconfirmation, including the federal notice to the employee and the rule that the person keeps working while the case is open; see E-Verify tentative nonconfirmation.
• Where the records live. Keep the case result with the Form I-9 and purge both on the federal schedule, not earlier; see I-9 retention rules.
• When the obligation ends. A contractor's duties under the clause are tied to its covered contracts. A firm that enrolled only for one federal subcontract should note when that work ends and get advice before changing its enrollment.

Staffing agencies in Maryland

• No Maryland placement carries a state E-Verify duty.
• Federal contract placements often do, because a staffing subcontract for services above $3,500 under a covered prime contract carries the clause. The agency, as the employer that completes Form I-9, enrolls and runs the cases.
• Once enrolled under the clause, the agency verifies all its new hires company-wide, so it is worth confirming before signing whether a client's subcontract really includes FAR 52.222-54.
• Virginia state-agency placements can trigger Virginia's rule if the agency meets its size and contract-value tests.
• Licensing is separate; see staffing agency license requirements in Maryland.

A worked example

This is an invented example. A Columbia, Maryland IT staffing firm with 80 employees supplies contract developers to three clients: a Maryland state agency, a private hospital system, and a federal systems integrator under a subcontract that includes FAR 52.222-54. Maryland law requires nothing for the first two. The federal subcontract does: the firm enrolls within 30 days of signing it and, because it is a private company rather than one of the employer types allowed to limit verification, verifies every new hire company-wide from then on, including the developers placed at the hospital. When it later wins a $120,000 contract with a Virginia state agency, Virginia's statute independently requires the E-Verify use it is already doing.

A Maryland checklist

1. Check each federal prime contract, subcontract and task order for FAR 52.222-54.
2. If it is there, enroll within 30 days and plan for company-wide verification of new hires.
3. Check Virginia state-agency contracts above $50,000 against Virginia's 50-employee test.
4. Otherwise, E-Verify in Maryland is a choice; Form I-9 is not.
5. Recheck the General Assembly's session for any revived E-Verify bill each spring.