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What E-Verify is Not Telling You
Setting the record straight on what E-Verify does and does not do to support employers.
E-Verify is a government program originally designed to support employers during the Form I-9 process—offering what many assumed would be a comprehensive, one-stop compliance solution. E-Verify’s mission: help employers verify that new hires are who they say they are and are authorized to work in the United States. But here’s the problem: E-Verify doesn’t verify identity and minimally supports verification of IDs.
What the Law Requires. The Form I-9 obligates every U.S. employer to validate two things for each new hire:
1. Identity – That the individual is who they claim to be
2. WorkAuthorization – That the individual is legally allowed to work in the U.S.
If you’re a U.S. citizen, both identity and work authorization can be proven with a U.S. passport. Alternatively, a combination of documents can be used—like a state-issued driver’s license (identity) plus a Social Security card (work authorization).
There are over 190 valid ID combinations and nearly 1,000 types of legitimate IDs accepted for the I-9. Without access to the issuing databases—and the ability to match the document to the actual human—it’s impossible for employers to truly authenticate these IDs.
What E-Verify Actually Does. E-Verify provides indirect access to limited government databases and performs the following:
o Verifies that the name matches the Social Security Number via the Social Security Administration (SSA)
o Performs Photo Matching for:
o U.S. Passports & Passport Cards
o Permanent Resident Cards (Form I-551)
o Employment Authorization Documents (Form I-766)
If one of these three documents is submitted, E-Verify displays a stored photo from government records, allowing the employer to compare it to the physical document. However, this is neither an identity check (no 1:1 match between the ID face images returned from the database v. the face image the employer has of the new hire) nor an ID check.
It is a help, yes, that there is some assurance that the face image provided is the same the federal government has, but there is no check to determine if that identity was stolen and placed in anew ID, for example, or whether any of the fields on the ID presented by the new hire matches the ID the government has, as the government is not doing that check.
What E-Verify Does Not Do. Despite its name and intent, E-Verify does not verify the ID document itself. It cannot:
o Check for duplicate or known fraudulent SSNs
o Verify that the passport number on the document matches State Department records
o Cross-check Permanent Resident Cards or EADs against US Citizenship and Immigration Service's (USCIS) own issuance data
o Validate the authenticity of any driver’s license or state ID—there are over 850 types in circulation, but it does check about 38 states DMV databases to confirm the data on the ID (but not states that won't agree to share that data, and all the fraudsters know which state IDs are not shared, and thus which to manipulate to get through the I-9 process).
o Confirm issuance of military IDs, Coast Guard IDs, or tribal documents
o Query Canadian driver’s license authorities
o Detect fake, altered, or borrowed IDs
o Provide any fraud determination capability
E-Verify can only confirm data on certain IDs, but not that the ID or the image on the ID is legitimate and belongs to the person presenting it.
So Why Use E-Verify? Today,E-Verify is valuable not because it guarantees identity and work authorization, but because it offers:
o Remote Form I-9 Completion. Enables remote hires via video conference for employers in good standing—avoiding the need for costly third-partyAuthorized Representatives.
o Does check SSNs, and recently added death notices to the databases to attempt to reduce SSNs from deceased being used, but no effort to make that a real time, continuous effort as far as we know.
o Credible Deniability. If audited by ICE or DHS, employers can point to a validE-Verify result as part of a good-faith compliance effort.
But make no mistake: E-Verify cannot protect you from a bad hire using false credentials.
Frequently Asked Questions
ZipID is an I-9 compliance and identity verification platform that combines facial recognition, OCR document capture, and fraud detection to verify new hire identities and complete Form I-9 in under 8 minutes — with a legally compliant audit trail built in. It is the only I-9 platform built by the person who helped write the federal identity doctrine behind the law.
Yes. ZipID is designed to satisfy all five federal electronic I-9 system requirements under 8 CFR § 274a.2, including compliant audit trails, electronic signature protocols, and secure storage standards — including the March 2026 ICE reclassification of substantive violations.
It is completely the employer's choice. Facial authentication can assure that a new hire is who they say they are, and the ID they present matches their live self.
This is especially important for remote workers, or industries subject to immigration fraud or economic espionage from foreign adversaries who may pose as Americans for access to proprietary information.
ZipID uses NIST-validated biometric facial recognition at 99.998% accuracy to match a live selfie to the photo on the new hire's government-issued ID. OCR extracts and autofills document data, and fraud detection checks for tampered, synthetic, or spoofed documents.
ZipID completes the entire Form I-9 process — including identity verification, document capture, and E-Verify — in under 8 minutes, for both remote and in-person new hires.
As of January 2, 2025, I-9 paperwork violations carry fines of $288 to $2,861 per form under 8 CFR § 274a.10(b)(2). Knowingly hiring unauthorized workers carries fines up to $28,619 per worker for repeat offenses. ICE audit rates in 2025 ran at least ten times higher than in 2024.
ZipID plans to become a certified E-Verify third-party agent by August 2026. E-Verify completion is currently part of the I-9 workflow after the employer signs the form, with ZipID toggling to E-Verify, and then data from the E-Verify case is autofilled into the Additional Information box on the I-9 form, for preservation and audit purposes.
ZipID was founded by Janice Kephart, former counsel to the 9/11 Commission and a national security identity expert with 25 years of federal and private sector experience, as a lawyer and policy and technology identity expert. Kephart authored the federal identity doctrine and biometric entry-exit recommendations that underlie today's I-9 compliance framework. She has testified before Congress 19 times on identity-related issues, and is an I-9 expert.