E-Verify is mandatory in Colorado only for employers that hold public contracts for services with state agencies or political subdivisions. Every other private employer can use the system or skip it. That single distinction decides most of what you need to do, and getting it wrong in either direction costs money: unnecessary compliance work on one side, a lost government contract on the other.
Who Has to Use E-Verify in Colorado
Colorado’s mandate sits in the Public Contracts for Services Act. Before signing a public contract, a prospective contractor must certify that it does not knowingly employ unauthorized workers and that it will use E-Verify (or the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s own verification program) to confirm the work eligibility of every employee newly hired to perform work under that contract.1Justia Law. Colorado Code 8-17.5-102 – Prohibition
The duty reaches down the chain. If a contractor learns that a subcontractor working under the public contract employs unauthorized workers, the contractor has three days to notify both the subcontractor and the contracting agency, and must terminate the subcontract if the subcontractor doesn’t fix the problem.
For every other Colorado employer, E-Verify is voluntary. The Secretary of State’s office describes it as a program employers may elect to use.2Colorado Secretary of State. Electronic Verification Program No Colorado law makes it universal.
Rules You Take On the Moment You Enroll
Once you enroll, the program’s rules apply across the board at that hiring site. A few catch employers off guard because they are stricter than the general Form I-9 process.
- You must run E-Verify on every new hire at the enrolled location, not a selected few. Running it only on employees whose name, appearance, or perceived national origin raises questions is a discrimination violation.2Colorado Secretary of State. Electronic Verification Program
- You must create the E-Verify case within three business days of the employee’s actual start date. The clock starts on the first day of paid work, not the offer date.3E-Verify. Why Must an E-Verify Case Be Created Three Days After Hiring an Employee
- You cannot pre-screen applicants. Colorado’s Public Contracts for Services Act prohibits using E-Verify before someone has accepted an offer and completed Form I-9.1Justia Law. Colorado Code 8-17.5-102 – Prohibition
- You must display the E-Verify Participation poster and the Right to Work poster, both in English and Spanish, where applicants and employees can see them. For remote workers, E-Verify accepts digital display through an online portal or by sending copies with application materials.4E-Verify. Can E-Verify Posters Be Downloaded or Linked Electronically to External Web Sites
The system itself is simple. You enter the Form I-9 information into the E-Verify portal, which checks it against Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration records. Most cases confirm within seconds. The hard part is what happens when they don’t.
Handling a Tentative Nonconfirmation
A Tentative Nonconfirmation, or mismatch, does not mean the employee is unauthorized. It means E-Verify found a discrepancy, which can be as mundane as a name change that was never reported to the Social Security Administration. How you handle it matters, because mishandling creates both discrimination exposure and E-Verify program violations.
Download and print the Further Action Notice right away and review it privately with the employee. If the employee cannot read it, read it aloud. The employee signs and dates the notice and then has until the end of the tenth federal government working day after the mismatch was issued to decide whether to contest or decline. Federal government working days are weekdays other than federal holidays.
If the employee contests, you refer the case in E-Verify and give them a Referral Date Confirmation. They then have eight federal government working days to contact DHS or visit a Social Security Administration field office. Throughout this entire process you cannot fire, suspend, cut hours, or take any other adverse action because of the mismatch.5E-Verify. Final Nonconfirmation
If the employee declines to contest, doesn’t respond in time, or contests but the mismatch is not resolved after review, the case becomes a Final Nonconfirmation. You may then terminate employment with no civil or criminal liability, and you must close the case in E-Verify either way.5E-Verify. Final Nonconfirmation
Form I-9 Still Applies to Everyone
Every Colorado employer must complete and keep a Form I-9 for each hire, whether or not the employer uses E-Verify. This is a federal requirement under 8 U.S.C. § 1324a, and Colorado’s own verification statute, C.R.S. § 8-2-122, requires employers to show compliance with those federal rules on request.6Justia Law. Colorado Code 8-2-122 – Employment Verification Requirements – Audits – Fine for Fraudulent Documents – Cash Fund Created – Definitions E-Verify sits on top of the I-9 process, not in place of it.7E-Verify. Form I-9 and E-Verify
Independent contractors are not your employees and do not need an I-9 or E-Verify check. The distinction follows common-law tests for the employer-employee relationship.8E-Verify. 6.3 Independent Contractors and Self-Employed Individuals Misclassifying workers as contractors to avoid the verification obligation is a fast way to draw enforcement attention.
Recordkeeping
Federal law requires you to keep each Form I-9 for three years after the date of hire or one year after employment ends, whichever is later. For short-tenured employees, the three-year-from-hire deadline usually controls. For longer-tenured employees, the one-year-after-termination deadline usually controls.9USCIS. 10.0 Retaining Form I-9
If you use E-Verify, record the case verification number on the Form I-9 or attach a copy of the case details page to it. USCIS recommends keeping the Historical Records Report with your I-9 files. USCIS disposes of E-Verify records older than ten years, so your own copies are the only reliable long-term record.10E-Verify. E-Verify Records Scheduled for Disposal – Deadline Extended
What Happens If You Get It Wrong
Under C.R.S. § 8-2-122, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment can run random audits of employment verification records and must request documentation when the director has reason to believe an employer has not met verification requirements.6Justia Law. Colorado Code 8-2-122 – Employment Verification Requirements – Audits – Fine for Fraudulent Documents – Cash Fund Created – Definitions
The statute no longer sets general state-level fine amounts for verification failures; several penalty subsections were deleted or repealed between 2016 and 2020. Federal penalties still apply. I-9 paperwork violations run from $272 to $2,701 per form for a first offense, and climb for repeat violations or for knowingly hiring unauthorized workers.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1324a – Unlawful Employment of Aliens
Public contractors face a sharper risk. The Public Contracts for Services Act requires the contract itself to include the no-knowing-hire and verification provisions, and violating them can lead to contract termination.1Justia Law. Colorado Code 8-17.5-102 – Prohibition Beyond losing the one contract, Colorado’s procurement code allows debarment from all state contracts for up to three years. If a criminal conviction is involved, debarment can match the sentence length including any mandatory parole, and a suspension pending investigation can run up to three months or until the criminal case resolves.12Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes 24-109-105 – Debarment and Suspension For a company that depends on government work, debarment hurts more than any fine.
Remote Document Examination
Colorado employers enrolled in E-Verify in good standing can examine new-hire documents remotely instead of in person. The DHS alternative procedure requires you to examine copies of the I-9 documents during a live video interaction, confirm the documents appear genuine and relate to the employee, and keep clear copies for the length of employment plus the standard retention period.13USCIS. Remote Examination of Documents (Optional Alternative Procedure to Physical Document Examination)
To qualify, you must be enrolled in E-Verify at every hiring site that uses the remote procedure, remain in compliance with all program requirements, and stay enrolled for as long as you use the procedure. If you offer remote examination at a site, you offer it consistently to all employees at that site. You can limit it to remote hires while examining documents in person for onsite workers, but you cannot use it selectively in ways that treat employees differently based on citizenship, immigration status, or national origin.
On the Form I-9, check the alternative procedure box in Section 2 on the 08/01/2023 or 01/20/2025 editions, or write “Alternative Procedure” in the Additional Information field on older editions. Do not open a new E-Verify case when you reverify an existing employee’s documents.