If you’ve tried to run E-Verify recently and things aren’t working, you’re not alone.
Because of the U.S. federal government shutdown, the E-Verify system is temporarily offline.
For many HR teams, this means your onboarding and employment verification workflows are paused, especially if your organization uses Workday’s E-Verify integration.
Let’s break this down clearly — what’s happening, why it matters, and what to do (both from an HR business and Workday tech perspective).
First, What’s Going On
E-Verify is run by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. During a government shutdown, E-Verify stops accepting:
- New case submissions
- Status checks on existing cases
- Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC) resolutions
So, when Workday tries to send new hire I-9 info to E-Verify, those transactions basically get stuck in limbo until the system comes back online.
Important: Don’t Change Your Workday Process
Workday’s official advice is clear:
👉 Do not modify your business process to skip or bypass the E-Verify integration step.
Why this matters:
If you bypass it now, you’ll lose the ability to use the “Retry E-Verify Submission” feature later. That retry function is your best friend once E-Verify is back up — it lets you resubmit cases without re-doing everything manually.
So, keep the step in place. Let cases queue up. We’ll clean them up after the shutdown.
📝 Understanding Workday’s I-9 & E-Verify Features (in Simple Terms)
Before we get into the “what to do after,” here are a few useful reminders about how Workday handles I-9 and E-Verify:
📄 Electronic Form I-9 has some limits
- It doesn’t support federal contractors under FAR rules.
- It doesn’t support Special Placement signatures for employees with disabilities.
- You can only include the Complete Form I-9 step in onboarding, not anywhere else.
🔁 The Retry Button isn’t magic
The Retry E-Verify button doesn’t work in every scenario.
For example:
- It’s not available on the Update Form I-9 Receipts task.
- If there’s a read time-out, you have to check E-Verify manually to see if a case exists.
- If a case requires a photo match or further verification, that has to happen directly on the E-Verify website — not inside Workday.
Once the case is resolved in E-Verify, you record the status and case number in Workday.
🧭 Once E-Verify Is Back: How to Catch Up Efficiently
When the government shutdown ends, HR and HRIS teams have three main tools to get everything back on track. Think of this as your “catch-up toolkit.”
1️⃣ Retry Submissions (Case by Case
For individual hires, you can simply use the Retry E-Verify Submission button from the Final U.S. Employment Verification Status step.
👉 Tip: Make sure the “Resubmit: Form I-9 – USA” domain is enabled in your Workday security.
👉 Best for: small batches or one-off hires that got stuck during the outage.
2️⃣ Launch E-Verify Manually (for Checks or Password Resets)
Workday also lets you manually launch the E-Verify integration through the Launch / Schedule Integration task.
This is helpful if you need to:
- Change your E-Verify password
- Check if the service is running
- Close cases
- Manually trigger a run or schedule regular syncs
⚠️ Just remember: if you manually launch outside of the Complete Form I-9 process, the rest of the verification steps happen directly in E-Verify, not Workday.
👉 Best for: system checks, admin tasks, or when you want to kick off bulk processing at a specific time.
3️⃣ Mass Resubmit (for Bulk Catch-Up)
For organizations with lots of hires during the downtime, this is the big cleanup button.
You can bulk resubmit Forms I-9 to E-Verify on a schedule — Workday recommends running this during off-peak hours to reduce strain.
🚫 Some forms can’t be mass resubmitted:
- Forms with validation errors (wrong SSN, invalid document numbers)
- Cases that need photo match or manual verification
- Some self-initiated I-9s from workers with multiple positions
For those exceptions, you’ll need to fix the data or use manual Retry options.
👉 Best for: high-volume catch-up after a long outage.
📝 What HR Teams Can Do Right Now
While E-Verify is down:
- ✅ Keep onboarding — just document every step carefully.
- 🚫 Don’t make employment decisions based on pending E-Verify cases.
- 🗂️ Prepare for a backlog. Make a list of new hires whose E-Verify checks are pending so you can quickly act when the system’s back.
📢 Stay in the Loop
The official updates are posted here:
👉 E-Verify Temporary Unavailability Notice
👉 Workday Customer Alert Tracking the downtime
Workday will automatically resume sending queued transactions when E-Verify returns, but being prepared helps you hit the ground running.
💬 Final Thoughts
E-Verify downtime is frustrating — especially during busy hiring seasons.
But if HR and HRIS teams work together and follow Workday’s best practices, you can minimize the disruption:
- HR teams focus on clear documentation and compliance.
- HRIS teams prepare to use Retry, Manual Launch, and Mass Resubmit smartly.
- Everyone stays patient and coordinated until systems return.
Think of it like hitting “pause,” not “reset.” With the right steps, your onboarding flow will pick up right where it left off. 🚀
