E-Verify requirements in New York: no state mandate, with bills pending in both directions

As of October 2026, New York State has no law requiring employers to use E-Verify and no law restricting how they use it. A New York private employer with no federal contract decides for itself whether to enroll. Bills have been introduced in Albany for years in both directions, some to require E-Verify for every employer and some to limit its use, and none has been enacted. The bills to watch in the 2025-2026 session are restrictions, not mandates.

Who is covered in New York

The bills, and where they stand

Restriction bills in the current session

The Employee Privacy Act, S3956 (Senator Ramos) and its Assembly counterpart A3584 (Assemblymember Reyes) would prohibit employers from using E-Verify to check the status of existing employees or of applicants who have not been offered employment, except as required by federal law, and would prevent municipalities from requiring employers to use it. The Senate bill was referred to the Labor Committee on January 31, 2025 and again on January 7, 2026; the Assembly bill was referred to its Labor Committee, most recently on January 7, 2026. Neither had passed either house as of October 2026.

The same proposal has been filed before; a 2019 version was S6812. If it passes, New York's rules would resemble California's Labor Code section 2814; see E-Verify requirements in California for how that model works.

Mandate bills in past sessions

Assembly bills in earlier sessions would have required employers to register for and participate in E-Verify for new hires, including A2784 of 2015, which provided that every public or private employer "shall register for and participate in" the program. None became law.

What applies to New York employers instead

Form I-9 for every hire

Every New York employer completes Form I-9 for every new employee, with Section 2 done within three business days of the first day of work. That obligation does not depend on E-Verify at all; see I-9 timing in hiring and E-Verify vs Form I-9.

The federal contractor clause

New York's lack of a mandate does not matter to a federal contractor. Under FAR 22.1803, clause 52.222-54 goes into federal contracts over $150,000 unless they are performed only outside the United States, last less than 120 days, or cover only commercially available off-the-shelf items. It flows down to subcontracts for services or construction over $3,500 that include work in the United States. A covered contractor must enroll within 30 calendar days of award, verify new hires company-wide, and verify employees assigned to the contract.

The federal rules once you enroll

New York adds nothing, but the E-Verify employer memorandum of understanding is binding on any enrolled employer. It says the employer:

• may not create a case before the person is hired, meaning a firm offer was extended and accepted and Form I-9 was completed;
• must create the case within three business days after hire;
• may not use E-Verify for pre-employment screening of applicants;
• must use it for all new employees at the enrolled site and may not verify selectively;
• may not take adverse action while a tentative nonconfirmation is being contested; see E-Verify tentative nonconfirmation.

New York's general anti-discrimination law still applies to how a check is used. Selectively running E-Verify only on candidates who look or sound foreign breaks the MOU and creates discrimination risk under federal and state law.

If the Employee Privacy Act passes

Because the restriction bills have been refiled for several sessions, it is worth knowing what would change for a New York employer that already uses E-Verify. Based on the bill's summary and text on nysenate.gov:

• Pre-offer checks would carry state liability. They already break the federal MOU; the bill would add a state-law prohibition on top.
• Existing employees could not be run except as federal law requires, which mainly means a federal contractor under FAR 52.222-54.
• Local mandates would end. Municipalities could no longer require employers to use E-Verify, which matters to contractors that work for New York cities and counties.

An employer that already follows the federal MOU closely would have little to change. An employer that uses E-Verify informally, for example running candidates "to be safe" before an offer, would need to stop either way.

Deciding whether to enroll voluntarily in New York

With no state rule either way, enrollment is a business decision. Points to weigh:

• All or nothing at a hiring site. The MOU requires verifying every new hire at an enrolled site, not a chosen subset.
• Monitoring. The MOU reserves DHS's right to conduct Form I-9 compliance inspections and site visits to check proper use of E-Verify.
• Remote document review. Employers that participate in E-Verify in good standing may use the DHS-authorized alternative procedure to examine Form I-9 documents remotely, which some employers with distributed teams value.
• Records. Case results sit alongside Form I-9 records, which are kept for three years after hire or one year after employment ends, whichever is later; see I-9 retention rules.

Remote workers and multi-state employers

State E-Verify mandates generally follow where the employee works, not where the employer is based. A New York company that hires someone working from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina or another mandate state may owe that state's requirement for that hire. The reverse also holds: a company headquartered in a mandate state that hires a remote worker in New York does not bring its home state's mandate with it, though many such companies run one process company-wide. Check each work location against E-Verify requirements by state.

Staffing agencies and recruiters in New York

• No New York placement triggers a state E-Verify duty. An agency enrolled voluntarily, or through a federal subcontract, runs the case as the employer of record that completes Form I-9; see E-Verify for staffing agencies.
• If the agency is enrolled, every new hire at the enrolled site is verified, including placements with private clients. Some agencies enroll a separate hiring site for federal work; see E-Verify enrollment steps.
• A client contract requiring "E-Verify cleared" candidates before interviews asks for something the federal MOU already prohibits, whatever New York says.
• Licensing is a separate New York question; see staffing agency license requirements in New York.

A worked example

This is an invented example. A Buffalo IT staffing firm wins a subcontract to supply developers to a prime contractor on a two-year federal contract worth well over $150,000, and the subcontract includes FAR 52.222-54. The firm enrolls in E-Verify within 30 days of the subcontract award. From then on it verifies every new hire, including recruiters it hires for its own office, within three business days of hire, and verifies the existing developers it assigns to the federal work within the clause's deadlines. Its other client placements in New York, with no federal contract involved, gain no state E-Verify duty; they are verified only because the firm's enrolled site must verify all new hires.

A New York checklist

1. No federal contract with FAR 52.222-54? E-Verify is optional; Form I-9 is not.
2. If you enroll, verify every new hire at the site, after the offer is accepted and the I-9 is complete.
3. Never use E-Verify to screen applicants.
4. Check local government contracts for their own terms.
5. Watch S3956 and A3584; if enacted, pre-offer and existing-employee checks would carry state liability.
6. For workers outside New York, apply the rule of the state where they work.