I’m also having a similar issue but a little different. My NY unemployment claim shows 0 effective days remaining but I'm still unemployed and searching for work. Do I need to file a completely new claim or just keep certifying weekly? I'm not tok sure on what happens when your effective days run out but you're still eligible for benefits. My benefit year claim date doesn’t end until March 2026 so I’m not too sure as to what should I do or who should I call at this moment in time? If anyone knows please it would be super helpful

I just went through this exact situation about 2 months ago and completely understand the panic! When your effective days hit 0, the absolute first thing you need to do is check your benefit year end date in your online account - this is the key piece of information that determines everything. If your benefit year has ended or is ending soon (within a week or two), you MUST file a new claim immediately. If your benefit year still has months left but you've exhausted effective days, that's when you'd call NYSDOL to ask about possible extensions. Here's what worked for me: I filed my new claim about 5 days before my benefit year ended, kept certifying weekly throughout the entire process (super important!), and had all my employment info from the past 18 months organized beforehand. The whole process took about 3 weeks but they backpaid me for every single week I certified during that waiting period. Pro tip: Save yourself hours of phone time by using a callback service like Claimyr if you need to speak with someone at NYSDOL - their regular phone lines are nearly impossible to get through. Don't stress too much - this is incredibly common and as long as you check that benefit year date and take action accordingly, you'll be fine!

New member here and currently experiencing this exact same March 2025 ID.me verification issue! Filed my claim about 3 weeks ago and it's been stuck on "pending" with absolutely no verification email anywhere - checked spam, promotions, trash, everything multiple times. This thread has been incredibly helpful in confirming this is a widespread system bug affecting March 2025 claims specifically and not just me messing something up. Reading through all these success stories with the 7:45am calling strategy gives me so much hope after weeks of complete frustration! It's clear that getting through to an actual NYSDOL agent is really the only solution when their system glitches like this. I'm planning to start calling tomorrow morning at 7:45am using all the proven tips that @Connor Murphy and others have shared here. Really appreciate everyone taking the time to document their experiences - it's so much more helpful than anything on the official NYSDOL website. Will definitely update once I hopefully get through to someone who can manually trigger my ID.me verification link!

I have not received my benefits. My identification was verified without a bid s o all. Do I need to do a video call?

Just want to add that even if your employer doesn't attend, make sure YOU don't miss the hearing! If you're a no-show but they attend, you'll automatically lose. The hearing will proceed at the scheduled time regardless of who shows up.

One thing to keep in mind is that even if your employer doesn't show up, the judge will still review any written documentation they submitted when they initially contested your claim. Make sure you're prepared to address whatever allegations they made about misconduct. If you haven't already, request a copy of their contest statement from the Department of Labor so you know exactly what you're responding to. Good luck with your hearing - the fact that you're taking it seriously and preparing properly will work in your favor!

I went through this exact same situation last year! The "zero effective days remaining" definitely means you've exhausted your 26 weeks of regular UI benefits, but your benefit year clock is still running. I made the mistake of stopping my weekly certifications for about a month because I thought there was no point, but then I learned I should have kept going. When I called NYSDOL (took forever to get through), they told me that continuous certification is crucial because it maintains your claim status and ensures you don't miss out on any potential extensions or programs that might become available. Even though you won't get payments right now, those weekly certifications create an unbroken record that you remained unemployed and available for work. I wish someone had told me this earlier - would have saved me a lot of stress when I had to explain the gap in my certifications later!

I'm in the exact same boat right now! Just hit zero effective days remaining this week but my benefit year doesn't end until May. Like so many others here, I was completely freaking out when I first saw that message - I genuinely thought I had broken something in my claim or there was some kind of system error. This entire thread has been absolutely invaluable! The NYSDOL website is criminally bad at explaining what "zero effective days remaining" actually means. I had no idea it simply indicates you've used up your 26 weeks of regular UI benefits rather than some kind of problem. I was literally planning to stop certifying next week thinking it was completely useless, but reading everyone's detailed experiences has made it crystal clear that continuing weekly certifications is absolutely essential for maintaining claim status. What's really giving me hope are all the success stories from people who actually received extensions or got accepted into programs like the 599 Training because they religiously kept certifying. I've been wanting to pursue some Python programming and data science courses, so I'm definitely going to research whether those might qualify for the training program. It's honestly infuriating that we have to rely on community wisdom to understand basic processes that should be clearly explained on the official government website. But I'm so incredibly grateful to everyone who took the time to share their experiences and advice - you've literally saved me from making what could have been a catastrophic mistake by stopping my certifications. Going to keep certifying every single week no matter what, even though it feels surreal knowing there's no payment coming. Thanks to this amazing community for being more helpful than any official resource I've found!