E-Verify requirements in North Dakota: no mandate, a 5-88 House vote in 2023, and Montana's law across the oil patch

As of October 2026, North Dakota does not require any employer to use E-Verify. The Legislature has looked at the question twice in a meaningful way. In 2011 it asked for a study. In 2023 a bill to require E-Verify of every public and private employer in the state reached the House floor and lost 5 to 88.

The practical risk for North Dakota employers sits next door. Oil field service companies, pipeline contractors and staffing firms in Williston, Watford City and Dickinson routinely send crews into eastern Montana, where a 2025 state law now audits how employers verify work authorization. In the Red River Valley, Fargo and Grand Forks companies bid on Minnesota public work that carries its own verification certification.

North Dakota by employer type

The 2023 vote

House Bill 1527, sponsored by Representative Matt Heilman of Bismarck, would have created a new Century Code chapter "related to illegal aliens and private employment" with a penalty. In his testimony to the House Industry, Business and Labor Committee on February 6, 2023, the sponsor described it as mandating that all employers, public and private, use E-Verify. The bill moved quickly and ended quickly:

A unanimous committee and an 88-vote floor majority against suggests the issue is not close in Bismarck, at least for a mandate that reaches every private employer. That makes North Dakota different from South Dakota, where a narrower 2026 bill passed both chambers in some form before dying in conference.

The 2011 study resolution

House Concurrent Resolution 3045, sponsored by Representative Mock and Senator Grindberg, reached enrolled form in the 2011 session. It directed Legislative Management to study "the feasibility and desirability of requiring private or public employers or both to use the federal E-Verify program for new hires" and to report recommendations to the 2013 Legislative Assembly. Whatever that review concluded, no mandate followed, and the Century Code remains silent on E-Verify fifteen years later.

Across the borders

Montana is the one to plan for. Its law is built around the employer's Montana workforce and nothing in it exempts an out-of-state employer, so treat employees working in Montana as covered unless counsel advises otherwise. The state can demand records on three business days' notice. A North Dakota company that sends a crew across the line should decide, in writing, whether those employees will be covered by E-Verify or by an I-9 with copied documents, and keep the files where they can be produced quickly.

Federal work, federal leases and tribal governments

Air force bases, federal buildings and federally procured construction carry FAR 52.222-54 when the contract exceeds $150,000, lasts 120 days or more and includes work in the United States, unless it is only for commercially available off-the-shelf items; the clause flows down to services and construction subcontracts over $3,500. A private contractor that accepts the clause enrolls within 30 days and generally verifies every new hire company-wide for the life of the contract.

Two distinctions matter in North Dakota. First, the clause belongs to procurement contracts. A lease of federal minerals, or a contract with a private operator that happens to hold federal leases, does not bring it in by itself; look for the clause in the documents you actually sign. Second, tribal governments in the state that hold a covered federal contract may choose under paragraph (b)(3) of the clause to verify only employees assigned to that contract.

Form I-9 on rotational schedules

With no state mandate, Form I-9 carries the whole compliance load for most North Dakota employers, and rotation schedules are where it slips. A few federal timing rules are worth restating for crews that work 14 days on and 14 off, or that start at a remote location:

• Section 1 is due by the end of the first day of work for pay, and Section 2 by the end of the third business day after that day. Business days run on the calendar, not on the rotation, so a worker who starts on a Thursday and then goes off-hitch still needs Section 2 by the following Tuesday.
• A worker who leaves and is rehired within three years of the original form can often be handled by updating the existing I-9 rather than completing a new one; see I-9 for rehires.
• An employee who stays on the payroll between hitches is a continuing employee and does not need a new form.
• If the company enrolls in E-Verify, the case is due within the same three business days, and rehires follow the program's own rules.

Staffing agencies in the oil patch

• North Dakota placements: Form I-9 only, unless a federal clause applies.
• Montana placements: meet Montana's records rule for every worker employed there.
• Minnesota state service contracts: expect the client to pass down the E-Verify certification.
• Workers who rotate between states on the same assignment should have one clean I-9, completed on time, with a file that can satisfy Montana's auditors as well. Self-audit with the I-9 audit checklist.
• Licensing is separate; see staffing agency license requirements in North Dakota.

A worked example

This is an invented example. A Williston well-services company employs 120 people, mostly in McKenzie and Williams counties, and runs two rigs in Richland County, Montana. It does not use E-Verify. For its Montana crews it adopts Montana's document-copy route: each Montana hire's List A, or List B and List C, documents are copied and filed with the Form I-9. It then wins a subcontract to rebuild a road at a federal installation, and the purchase order includes FAR 52.222-54. The company enrolls within 30 days, starts running every new hire through E-Verify, and from then on its Montana crew files carry an E-Verify confirmation as well, which also satisfies Montana's E-Verify route.

A North Dakota checklist

1. North Dakota-only work and no federal clause: Form I-9; E-Verify optional.
2. Any employees working in Montana: choose a LEGAL Act method and keep records audit-ready.
3. Minnesota state service contracts over $50,000: expect the E-Verify certification.
4. Federal procurement contracts and subcontracts: check for FAR 52.222-54; leases alone do not trigger it.
5. Watch the 2027 session for any revival of an HB 1527-style bill.