Companies or Business Units that are enrolled in E-Verify must be added in this setup to interact with the USCIS E-Verify System. This step is not needed if the Company/Business Unit (Legal Entity) is not planning to use E-Verify.

Who has access to DHS Client Setup?

Users with System Administrator or E-Verify Specialist roles have access to DHS Client Setup.

How do you access DHS Client Setup?

System Administrator

Click the menu icon at the top left corner of the page and choose "DHS Client Setup" from the "Integration" section in the navigation menu.

E-Verify Specialist

Click the menu icon at the top left corner of the page and choose "DHS Client Setup" from the "Utilities" section in the navigation menu.

What details are included in the DHS Client Setup?

For legal entities, such as companies or business units, that are enrolled in E-Verify, web service accounts must be established in the DHS Client Setup to link with the USCIS E-Verify system. The DHS Client Setup interface will display the appropriate fields based on the selected company or business unit within the Legal Entity Driver. For setting up the Legal Entity Driver for an organization, please click here.

Note: For legal entities participating in E-Verify, the E-Verify activity will be routed only if the Company/Business Unit has set up the web service account in the DHS Client Setup.

Enter the DHS User ID, Password, and Confirm Password for each designated legal entity (Company or Business Unit) and proceed to save the information.

The fields on the DHS Client Setup page are explained below:

DHS Client Setup when "Company" is selected as the Legal Entity Driver in I-9 Options:

DHS Client Setup when "Business Unit" is selected as the Legal Entity Driver in I-9 Options:

Note: Each Company/Business Unit can use a different DHS User ID and Password or the same.

Note: If the web service account password is changed, update the new password details in this setup so that there will be no issues when the system is communicated with the USCIS E-Verify.

Few validation messages that you may encounter while saving this page are explained below:

If you save the setup without entering Password or Confirm Password field, the following message will be displayed on the page.

If the Password and Confirm Password fields do not match, the error message displayed will be as follows:

Upon saving the configuration and refreshing the page, the system will display one of the following messages for the legal entity setup, depending on the User ID and Password values.

If the entered User ID and Password is incorrect:

If the password for the DHS account has expired:

If the User ID and Password is correct, the message will have the details of password reset date and the number days remaining until the password expires.

To make sure the current setup is correct, click on "Verify Connectivity" link for the Company that you have added/updated. Note: Before you verify the connectivity, make sure the new entries added/updated on the page are saved.

The below message displays if the connection is successful.

If the Password entered is incorrect, the below message displays when clicking the "Verify Connectivity".

How to add/delete a row in the DHS Client Setup?

A new row will be added below as shown. Click on the lookup icon to choose the Company.

Select the Company value for which you want to add the web service setup. Note: All the attribute values added to the Company attribute through Attribute Revision will appear in the lookup. For details on adding an attribute, please visit the Attribute Revision page.

The Desired Lookup ID and the Desired Lookup Description for the selected Company will populate in the Company ID field.  Enter the DHS web service User ID and Password details and save.

Note: Each Company can use a different DHS User ID and Password or the same.

If the Company already exists in the setup, then the duplicate value error displays as below.

To make sure the current setup is correct, click the "Verify Connectivity" link for the Company that you just added. Note: Before you verify the connectivity, make sure the new entries added on the page are saved.

The below message displays if the connection is successful.

To remove a company value from the DHS Client Setup, click the "Delete" button on the corresponding row and then save your changes.

How do you search for a Company/Business Unit value in the DHS Client Setup?

In the DHS Client Setup, the grid on top of the list will show the total number of rows existing in the setup. Use "Previous" and "Next"  to scroll through the values.

Another way to find a particular text/setup on the page is by using the "Find" link provided on the grid. Enter the text in the search box and click "OK". This will bring up the search result on the page.

How to enable batch process for E-Verify?

Instead of manually creating E-Verify cases for each new hire, you can enable the batch process in the DHS Client Setup for automatic case creation and submission to DHS.

To configure the batch process for a specific company or business unit, enable the "Allow Batch DHS Case Creation" checkbox on the corresponding row. Transactions associated with the legal entity and marked with this option, and that are awaiting DHS verification, will be automatically processed by the batch process for E-Verify. When you enable the "Allow Batch DHS Case Creation" checkbox, a link will appear to enter the case submitter details. These details will serve as the default information for E-Verify cases created through the batch process for the associated legal entity.

To provide the case submitter details, click the "Default Case Submitter Details" link.

Enter the information and click "OK". This information is used for all the DHS cases that are initiated through the batch process for that legal entity.

While creating E-Verify cases, if the transaction has a delay for more than “Hire Date + 3 business days”, then the batch process will consider the "Overdue Verify Reason" selected here as the delay reason.

In case, if the reason is other than the options given here, then select "Other" and enter the reason in the text box that is populated below.

How does the batch process for DHS auto case creation and submission work?

For batch case creation and submission of E-Verify cases to DHS, there is a batch process scheduled to run everyday at 8pm PST in SmartERP cloud production environment. All the eligible transactions (which have the "Allow Batch DHS Case Creation" checked for the Company/Business Unit in DHS Client Setup) that are awaiting DHS verification will be picked up and the cases will be auto submitted to the DHS. During the submission, if the case status is "Employment Authorized", then the E-Verify activity will be auto completed with the case status "Case Closed - EA Auto Closed". After the process runs, an email notification will be sent to the case submitter with the number of cases submitted and their status. (Note: The case submitter details given in the DHS Client Setup is used for this purpose.)

Please take note of the following points to understand how the batch process works:

1. If the DHS site is down during submission, all transactions will be re-submitted during the next processing cycle. This will be notified to the case submitter via an email.

2. If an incorrect User ID/Password exists in the DHS Client Setup for a Company/Business Unit, the batch process will skip the processing of transactions related to those specific Companies/Business Units. However, it will continue processing other eligible transactions having the correct password setup. In this case, the case submitter will be notified via the following email.

3. There are few exception scenarios where the batch process will not pick up the transactions for processing because E-Verify is not allowed and the activity is completed using "Mark as Complete" option. Example: Applied for SSN, receipts in Section 2. These transactions will be considered for case creation during the next process cycle after the valid documents are presented.

All transactions that are picked up by the batch process and E-Verify case created, will have the E-Verify case details updated in their E-Verify activity as well as in Form I-9 Master.

A sample EA Auto closed transaction is given below.

For the above transaction, the E-Verify case details updated in Form I-9 Master is shown below:

Following the completion of the batch process, an email notification with the following format will be sent to the case submitter's email address. The email will include an attachment containing the list of all transactions processed and case submission failures during that instance.

Case Submission Failure Transactions:

Transaction(s) for which the E-Verify case could not be created will have an E-Verify Status of "Awaiting DHS Verification," with no value in the E-Verify Case Number. (Transactions with a successfully created E-Verify case will display the case number in the report.) The case submission failure count provided in the email will be in sync with the number of failed transactions listed in the DHS E-Verify Report.

Download the file and review the transactions that failed to create an E-Verify case. Take the necessary actions to resolve the errors. You can use the Invitation IDs mentioned in the report to identify the invitations in the My Tasks Console or Keyword Search My Tasks category and address the errors.

Once resolved, these transactions will be considered for case creation during the next process cycle. 

Here are a few scenarios where a transaction might fail to process, preventing the creation of an E-Verify case:

1. When the data given in the Form I-9 Section 2 is incorrect. In this case, the Document Number provided in Section 2 is less than 6 characters. 

2. When E-Verify is out of compliance (if “Hire Date + 3 business days” has passed for case creation) and the Overdue Reason is not provided in the Default Case submitter Details page of the DHS Client Setup.

3. When the duplicate case exists for the transaction (the Social Security Number of the transaction matches with the Social Security Number of an existing case for the same client Company ID).  

How to submit the transaction after resolving the error?

After resolving the issue, you can either allow these transactions to be picked up by the batch process in the next cycle or submit the case through the E-Verify activity.

If you prefer to submit your transaction via the E-Verify activity, navigate to the "My Tasks" console or use the Keyword Search in "My Tasks" to access the transaction.

When you click on the "E-Verify" link, the E-Verify activity opens as below:

Scroll down the page, enter case creator's details and click the "Create Case" button.

Note: The "Overdue Reason" field will not appear on the E-Verify page for transactions that are in "In Compliance" status, which is determined based on Hire Date + 3 business days.

For transactions that are in the "Out of Compliance" state, the E-Verify page will display the "Overdue Reason," which will be populated from the Case Submitter details in the DHS Client Setup.

Example: An out of compliance transaction with the overdue reason populated from the DHS Client Setup Case Submitter Details is shown below. Update the overdue reason if necessary and create the case.

Transactions with DHS Status other than "Case Closed - EA Auto Closed':

Transactions that have a DHS status other than 'Employment Authorized - EA Auto Closed' can be accessed via the E-Verify Console or through Keyword Search in the E-Verify Console category.

Review these transactions and, if needed, take appropriate actions to continue the verification process.

To access transactions via E-Verify Console:

Click the "E-Verify Console" link on the Quick Links bar.

In the E-Verify Console, click the lookup icon for "DHS Status".

On the lookup page, select the appropriate DHS sub state. For example, to access transactions with the "Unconfirmed Data" sub state, choose that option.

The search results for DHS Status = "Unconfirmed Data" are displayed as shown below. Click on the Case Number to open the activity and proceed with the verification process.

To access transactions through Keyword Search E-Verify Console:

In Keyword Search, select "E-Verify Console" as the category and search using a relevant keyword. In this instance, the candidate's name is used as the keyword.

Click on the I-9 ID link to open the Unconfirmed Data page and continue with the verification process.

How to check for EA Auto closed transactions?

Transactions with EA Auto Closed DHS status can be identified in the E-Verify Console or through Keyword Search under the E-Verify Console category.

To access EA Auto Closed Transactions via the E-Verify Console:

Click the "E-Verify Console" link in the Quick Links bar.

Click the lookup icon for "DHS Status".

Select DHS sub state as "Case Closed - EA Auto Closed".

Click on "Search".

This will fetch all transactions with DHS Status = "Case Closed - EA Auto Closed". 

To access EA Auto Closed transactions via Keyword Search E-Verify Console:

In Keyword Search, select "E-Verify Console" as the category and use "All" as the keyword. Then, filter the search results to show transactions with DHS Status = "Case Closed - EA Auto Closed".

Click on any I-9 ID to open its E-Verify page:

Since the E-Verify activity is auto-completed for these transactions, they will be in the process completed state. To check their process status, navigate to the Invitation Console.

Click the "Invitation Console" link in the Quick Links bar on the Home page.

Search for transactions using any search filter in the Invitation Console. In this example, the candidate's First Name is used for the search.

As shown below, the process status for the EA Auto Closed transaction will be listed as "Invitation Completed".

How to update the reset password in the DHS Client Setup?

After modifying the web service account password on the DHS site, promptly update the new password in the DHS Client Setup to maintain connectivity between Smart I-9/E-Verify or the Smart Onboarding portal and the USCIS E-Verify System.

In the DHS Client Setup, enter the new password in the Password and Confirm Password fields for all relevant rows and save the changes. Note: If the same web service User ID is used for different companies or business units, do not copy and paste from previously updated rows, as the password will be encrypted once entered.

To make sure the new password setup is correct, click the "Verify Connectivity" link for the respective Company/Business Unit for which the password has been updated.

Below confirmation message is displayed when the connection is successfully verified.