Do I Have to Register with Michigan Works for Benefits?

Yes. In most cases you have to register with Michigan Works to receive unemployment benefits in Michigan. The Michigan Employment Security Act makes work registration a condition of eligibility, and if you don’t complete it before your first biweekly certification, the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) will hold your payments until you do.¹ A narrow set of waivers can excuse you, but if none applies, registration is mandatory.

With weekly benefits reaching up to $530 in 2026 and lasting as long as 26 weeks, a delay in registering is a delay in getting paid.²

When You Don’t Have to Register

Three waivers can excuse the registration step, and each one depends on the kind of layoff you had.³

The Job Attached Waiver applies if you were laid off for lack of work and your employer has given you a return-to-work date within 120 days. Filing your claim satisfies the registration requirement, and you don’t have to conduct weekly job searches. It also covers workers who get jobs only through a union hiring hall.
The Short-Term Layoff Waiver applies if your return-to-work date is within 15 consecutive calendar days of when your layoff starts. If you’re still unemployed when that waiver runs out, you have to register.
The Registration and Seeking Work Waiver is the broadest. Your employer can request it for temporary layoffs of 45 days or fewer, and it excuses registration, job searching, and the availability requirement.

If none of these fits your situation, plan to register.

How to Register in Two Steps

Registration has two parts, and both have to be done at least one business day before your first biweekly certification.⁴

Create Your Profile on Pure Michigan Talent Connect

Go to mitalent.org, the state’s official job bank, and create a free job seeker account.⁵ You’ll enter your personal information, employment history for the past 18 months (employer names, addresses, dates, and earnings), and your education. You can upload a resume or build one on the site. Have your Social Security number and your state ID or driver’s license number ready before you start, so a session timeout doesn’t force you to begin again.⁶

Verify Your Registration with Michigan Works!

The online profile alone is not enough. After you create it, you have to meet with Michigan Works! staff, either in person at a local service center or in a virtual appointment, so they can review the profile and mark your registration complete.⁴ Bring valid photo identification. This is where many new claimants get tripped up: they finish the mitalent.org profile, assume they’re done, and then find out at certification that the verification step was never completed.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

If registration isn’t verified at least one business day before your first biweekly certification, your certification is not considered complete and your benefits will not be paid until you fix it.⁷ The statute is direct: you are not eligible for benefits in any week where the UIA finds that you haven’t registered for work, haven’t continued to report, or aren’t actively seeking work.¹

A disqualification stays in effect until you come into compliance. In the best case, that means delayed payments once you finish the registration. In the worst case, if the UIA later decides you reported inaccurate or incomplete information, you can be found ineligible and ordered to repay benefits you already received.

What You Still Have to Do After You Register

Registering is only the entry step. Once you’re collecting benefits, you have to actively search for work every week and report at least one qualifying work search activity when you certify.⁷ Certification happens every two weeks, either online through your MiWAM account at Michigan.gov/UIA or by phone through MARVIN at 1-866-638-3993.⁸

If you certify by phone, don’t hang up after the automated questions. Stay on the line and give your work search details to an agent, or the certification won’t be complete.⁷

Qualifying activities include contacting an employer, submitting an application, interviewing, attending a job fair, participating in a workshop or skills training, registering with a private employment agency, or completing a career assessment such as ACT WorkKeys.⁹ Setting up or updating a profile on a site like mitalent.org, Indeed, or LinkedIn counts only once per benefit year, and searching openings on a given site counts once per month, so don’t rely on the same activity week after week.

If You’re Denied for Not Registering

If the UIA disqualifies you for failing to register and you think the decision is wrong, file a written protest within 30 days of the determination’s mail date, explaining why you disagree.¹⁰ If the UIA’s redetermination still goes against you, you can appeal to an administrative law judge within 30 days, and further levels of appeal follow with the same 30-day clock at each stage. Keep certifying on schedule and continuing your work search while any protest or appeal is pending. If the decision is later reversed, back payments will only reach you for weeks you actually certified on time.

1
Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 421.28 – Michigan Employment Security Act (Excerpt)
2
Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. Unemployment Weekly Benefit Rate Increases Jan. 1, 2026
3
Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. Fact Sheet 161 – Waivers of Unemployment Insurance Eligibility Requirements
4
Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. Register to Work Requirement
5
State of Michigan. Pure Michigan Talent Connect
6
Michigan House. FACT SHEET 160 COVID-19 GUIDE Claiming Unemployment Benefits in Michigan
7
Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. Completing Your Work Search
8
Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. Claiming Unemployment Benefits in Michigan
9
Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. Work Search Activities List, Unemployment Insurance Agency
10
Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. Protests and Appeals