There are four steps in the Self Check process.

In step one and two you must establish your identity. This helps to protect your privacy by ensuring that only you can check your government employment eligibility records.

In steps three and four your information will be checked against U.S. government databases to determine your employment eligibility.

Step 1 - Enter ID Data

Self Check will prompt you to enter basic identifying information such as your name, address, and date of birth. Your Social Security number (SSN) is optional at this point, but will be required in Step 3 if you do not provide it here.

Step 2 - Take a Quiz

After you enter your information, it is sent to a third party “identity assurance” service. This service generates a series of “quiz” questions based on your personal information that only you would be able to answer. This process is very similar to what a bank or credit agency does to confirm someone’s identity online. The government will have no knowledge of which questions are presented or how those questions are answered. The quiz only takes about a minute to complete, but it is timed, so please ensure you have time to complete it without distraction if you elect to begin the process.

Step 3 - Enter Document Data

Once you have successfully established your identity, you will be able to confirm your work eligibility. The name and date of birth you provided in Step 1 will be pre-populated and cannot be changed. Additional information is required at this point including SSN (if not provided in Step 1), citizenship, and details about any immigration documentation that proves your work authorization (e.g., Green card, Employment Authorization card, etc).

Step 4 - Get Results

After you submit your information, it is checked against government databases to determine your work eligibility. Almost instantly a response is given indicating either that you are eligible to work in the US (and would likely get an employment authorized response in E-Verify if  your employer was using it), or that there may be a mismatch between the data you entered and the government databases checked. If there is a potential mismatch, you can get information that tells you how to correct your records if you wish to do so.