How do I set up E-Verify as a separate form from the I-9?

Last updated: November 4, 2026

Run E-Verify from its own form instead of bundling it into the I-9. A single Integration field set to Cross-form auto-lookup pulls the completed I-9 answers in, so the employee fills out the I-9 once and your team creates the case from a separate task.

Before you start

  • E-Verify is enabled on your account and at least one E-Verify account is saved under Account Settings → Integrations → E-Verify. The Integration dropdown only lists integrations your account has configured — without this, Everify won't appear.

  • Your employees complete Onboarded's standard I-9 or the Authorized Representative I-9. The separate E-Verify form finds its data by looking for a completed I-9 task on the employee; an I-9 you built from scratch isn't recognized as a source.

  • You can create and publish forms — see 📄 How do I build a form from scratch?

Why a separate form

Onboarded's I-9 forms collect the employee's Section 1 answers and your team's Section 2 review. E-Verify needs those same answers to open a case. You can put an E-Verify field directly on the I-9, but keeping it on its own form has two advantages: the I-9 completes and generates its PDF on its own schedule, and you can assign, reassign, or re-run the E-Verify task without touching the I-9.

The piece that makes this work is the field's Data Source setting. Current form reads I-9 answers collected on the same form. Cross-form auto-lookup reads them from the employee's most recently completed I-9 or Authorized Representative I-9 task instead.

Build the E-Verify form

  1. Create a new form from scratch and name it so your team recognizes it in the task list — E-Verify works.

  2. Add a page assigned to the employer. Your team creates and manages the case, so the field belongs on an employer-facing page.

  3. Add an Integration field to that page.

  4. Set the Integration dropdown to Everify.

    You should see a Data Source selector and an E-Verify Account selector appear below the dropdown.

  5. Choose Cross-form auto-lookup under Data Source.

  6. Select the E-Verify account this form should submit cases under. If you haven't saved one yet, + Add account opens the same form you'd use in Account Settings → Integrations → E-Verify.

  7. Save the field, then publish and deploy the form version.

Assign it alongside the I-9

  1. Add the E-Verify form to the same policy as your I-9, or assign it as a single form to the employees who need it.

  2. Order it after the I-9 if your policy uses stages, so your team isn't looking at an empty task before the employee has finished Section 1.

Until the employee's I-9 is complete, the E-Verify task shows a waiting message — Waiting for I-9 source data. The I-9/Auth Rep form has not been completed yet. — and no case can be created. That's expected, not an error. The task checks for the I-9 on its own and switches to the case-creation view once Section 2 is submitted.

Add your E-Verify account

If you skipped this in the prerequisites, do it now. Open Account Settings → Integrations → E-Verify, click Enable E-Verify if it isn't already on, then + Add account. Give it a Name and pick a Mode:

  • Employer Agent — you run E-Verify through Onboarded's agent account. Enter the Client Company ID Onboarded gave you after the E-Verify signup flow.

  • External Account — you use your own E-Verify web services account. Enter the Username, Password, and Endpoint URL from your E-Verify web services credentials.

Verify

Assign both forms to a test employee. Complete Section 1 as the employee and Section 2 as the employer. Open the E-Verify task: the waiting message is gone, an I-9 Source Data panel lists the name, date of birth, citizenship status, and documents pulled from the I-9, and View source task links back to that I-9. From here you create and submit the case as usual — see 📄 Understanding E-Verify case statuses for what happens next.

If the task stays in the waiting state after the I-9 is complete, check that the completed I-9 is one of Onboarded's I-9 forms and that it belongs to the same employee — the lookup is by employee, so a placement mismatch isn't the problem, but a different employee record is. If Everify is missing from the Integration dropdown, E-Verify isn't enabled on the account yet.

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