The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program is an online electronic system operated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) which aims to provide immigration status information to federal, state, and local government agencies seeking to determine an individual’s eligibility for public benefits. SAVE is not itself a database of citizenship and immigration status, but rather a tool used to query various other federal databases to determine a person’s immigration status. SAVE provides generally accurate results, but because the federal databases which it queries may themselves contain inaccurate or outdated information, SAVE is not a foolproof mechanism for determining a person’s immigration status.
In 2025, the Trump administration announced an “overhaul” of SAVE: the administration integrated Social Security Administration (SSA) and passport databases into the program as part of a broader effort to push state agencies that manage elections to use the system to verify prospective voters’ immigration status and eligibility to vote. Experts have expressed concern with the system’s drastic expansion, particularly over integrating sensitive databases designed and intended for other purposes into one centralized repository.
This fact sheet explains SAVE, the process through which it verifies an individual’s immigration status, and some of the concerns associated with its operation and recent expansion.
Background
In 1986, Congress determined that employment of undocumented immigrants acted as a “significant magnet” for irregular migration to the United States. As such, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) in 1986, which introduced civil and criminal penalties to employers who knowingly hired undocumented immigrants or those without proper work authorization and prohibited agencies from granting immigrants without work authorization specified federal public benefits. IRCA required noncitizen benefit applicants to show proof of lawful immigration status at the time of application and directed the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to establish a nationwide, automated electronic system for verifying an individual’s immigration status.
To comply with the Congressional mandate, the INS established SAVE in 1987 to allow agencies to verify the status of immigrants, non‑immigrants, and naturalized citizens applying for certain publicly funded benefits. Over time, subsequent legislation has modified and expanded the role of SAVE in the immigration status verification process.
What is the SAVE Program?
SAVE is an online tool that allows agencies that grant government benefits (such as Medicaid, food stamps, cash assistance programs, etc.) or licenses (such as driver’s licenses, identification cards, professional licenses, occupational licenses, etc.) to noncitizens to verify a noncitizen’s citizenship and immigration status. SAVE is not a database, nor does it contain a comprehensive record of U.S. citizens (the United States government does not maintain such a database). It also does not determine an applicant’s eligibility for benefits or licenses.
Rather, SAVE is a querying tool registered agencies can use to gather information from various government databases to verify an individual’s immigration status. After acquiring the necessary information, the agency (not SAVE) determines the noncitizen’s eligibility for certain benefits.
Why Did the Trump Administration “Overhaul” the SAVE Program?
One of President Trump’s campaign promises was to combat alleged election fraud. On March 25, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14248, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” to “safeguard American elections” and “guard against dilution by illegal voting, discrimination, fraud, and other forms of malfeasance and error.” USCIS thereafter began its overhaul of SAVE to transform it into a single, comprehensive source “to help verify U.S. citizenship and prevent aliens from voting in American elections.” USCIS announced the following changes:
April 22, 2025: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the former Department of Government Efficiency announced a “comprehensive optimization” of the SAVE database to ensure a “single, reliable source for verifying noncitizen status nationwide.” Prior to the overhaul, in Fiscal Year 2025, non‑federal agencies had to pay $1.50 per query, but the optimization eliminated all fees for non‑federal agencies; allowed agencies to perform bulk searches instead of individual ones; and integrated criminal records, immigration timelines, and addresses into the system.
May 22, 2025: USCIS deployed the updated SAVE Program. In partnership with the SSA, state and local authorities can now input Social Security Numbers into SAVE to help verify immigration status.
October 31, 2025: USCIS linked SAVE with the Department of State’s passport database, driver’s license databases, and information from the SSA so that agencies can look people up with a passport number, driver’s license number, and other SSA information. With the recent May and October updates, SAVE now includes U.S. citizens, including citizens by birth, who have never interacted with the immigration system.
Who Uses SAVE?
SAVE provides immigration status verification services to nearly 4,000 agencies. A government agency is eligible to use SAVE if it is a federal, state, or local benefit‑granting agency that is authorized by law to engage in any such activity or provide a benefit for which immigration status verification is required. In May 2025, USCIS expanded SAVE to permit state voting agencies (such as the Secretary of State, Supervisor of Elections, and County Supervisor of Elections) to submit queries to determine an individual’s eligibility to vote. As of March 2026, over 70 voting agencies across at least 24 states use SAVE.
Private companies or individuals cannot verify immigration status through SAVE except for private airport operators authorized under the Federal Aviation Act.
Before an agency can use SAVE, it must first register with USCIS. If the agency meets the eligibility criteria to participate in SAVE, the agency is required to execute a Memorandum of Agreement with USCIS that outlines the purpose of and responsibilities for participation in the program.
Where Does SAVE Draw Its Information From?
The Verification Information System database is the underlying central information technology that supports the SAVE program. This is a composite system with over 100 million records that draws on various DHS and SSA databases.
As of March 2026, VIS draws on the following databases to verify status:
USCIS Systems:
- Central Index System
- Electronic Immigration System
- Computer Linked Application Information Management System 3
- Enterprise Citizenship and Immigration Services Centralized Operational Repository
- GLOBAL (case‑tracking system)
- RAILS (records‑tracking system)
- Customer Profile Management System
- Salesforce Customer Relationship Management
Department of Homeland Security Systems:
- DHS OneNet
- DHS Student and Exchange Visitor Program
- ICE Enforcement Integrated Database
- CBP Arrival and Departure Information System
- Transportation Security Administration Office of Intelligence and Analysis Technology Infrastructure Modernization Program
Other Federal Agency Systems:
- U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command Integrated Resource System
- U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid Central Processing System
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- SSA Numerical Identity Files System
- U.S. Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Immigration Review Information Exchange System
- U.S. Department of State Consular Consolidated Database
- U.S. Department of State American Citizen Record Query System
How Does the SAVE Verification Process Work?
A SAVE check can take up to three steps to complete.
Initial Verification
The first step is an automated search of several DHS databases for records that match the information submitted by the benefits or election agency. Agencies can search names individually or in bulk. To run a search on immigration status, the agency needs a first name, last name, date of birth, the benefit or license requested, and a unique numeric identifier.
The system provides an automated response with the applicant’s current immigration status or prompts the agency to institute additional verification. In over 85 percent of cases, SAVE returns an automated response as an “Eligibility Statement” message indicating whether agency records can confirm the individual is a U.S. citizen or a noncitizen. If the individual is a noncitizen, the response indicates immigration status and work authorization. When a SAVE case is created using the applicant’s name, date of birth, and Social Security Number, the initial verification may return one of the following responses:
- United States Citizen (per SSA record)
- United States National
- Immigration Enumerator Required — Resubmit with Additional Information
- No Record Found with SSA — Resubmit with Additional Information
- Unable to Return Record from SSA — Resubmit with Additional Information
- Full SSN Required — Resubmit with Additional Information
- Deceased (per SSA record)
Additional Verification
If SAVE cannot provide a response after initial verification, the user agency may submit the case for additional manual verification or create a new SAVE case with corrected or additional information. Additional verification response times take approximately 14 federal workdays. CaseCheck, an online tool on USCIS’s website, allows applicants to check the status of their verification case.
Third‑Step Verification
If the electronic process is unable to verify the individual’s status, the agency must submit photocopies of the applicant’s relevant immigration documents using the Scan and Upload function in the SAVE system. Agencies should receive a response within three to five federal working days.
Is SAVE Monitored to Ensure Accuracy?
USCIS has stated that it conducts checks to help ensure SAVE accurately reflects information contained in its source systems. If an agency believes the initial response was incorrect or incomplete, the agency may escalate the case for additional verification, which allows for a manual search of relevant databases.
Individuals may request access to information USCIS maintains by submitting a Freedom of Information Act request. USCIS will review the documentation, cross‑reference relevant databases, and recommend corrections if errors are confirmed.
Privacy Protections Under SAVE
Agencies using SAVE must comply with the Privacy Act and are responsible for ensuring personal information is used only for authorized purposes. Required safeguards include restricting system access to authorized users, securing access credentials, reporting breaches promptly, providing notice to individuals, using information only on a need‑to‑know basis, maintaining accurate records, and requiring regular training.
Limitations of Privacy Protections
USCIS acknowledges it cannot fully mitigate certain risks, including limited notice to U.S. citizens whose information may be included in SAVE and the lack of individual consent regarding how USCIS uses that information.
Agency Monitoring
Under the Memorandum of Agreement, USCIS’s Monitoring and Compliance Branch may monitor system usage, conduct audits, and take corrective action when necessary. Despite these measures, some state and local agencies do not consistently complete required verification steps.
Concerns Regarding the Recent SAVE Updates
Thousands of individuals and organizations have raised concerns about SAVE’s expansion. When USCIS announced the overhaul, it received thousands of public comments, the vast majority opposing the changes.
Critics argue SAVE was not designed for election‑integrity purposes and that its design poses significant risks of false positives, particularly when relying on partial Social Security numbers and shared biographical data. Reports have already identified naturalized citizens incorrectly flagged as potential noncitizens.
False positives have been a longstanding issue. In a prior attempt to use SAVE for voter roll maintenance, courts ruled such use unlawful due to the system’s high error rate. Following the Trump administration’s expansion, local officials have reported dozens of individuals incorrectly flagged as potential noncitizens, with election administrators suspecting additional errors.
Experts further note that SAVE was originally designed to verify immigration status for benefits, not elections. The wide variability in election laws and procedures across jurisdictions raises concerns about inconsistent and improper use of the system.
Unprecedented Database Linking
Civil liberties organizations have expressed alarm over the unprecedented combination of datasets under SAVE. What was previously a limited verification tool has become a system capable of analyzing large populations at once.
SSA has acknowledged that it does not make citizenship determinations and that its records may be incomplete or outdated, as individuals are not required to report changes in immigration status unless receiving benefits.
The consolidation of sensitive information—including Social Security numbers, biometric data, tax records, employment data, and medical information—has prompted critics to warn that SAVE represents a highly attractive target for cyberattacks and misuse.
