I went through this same exact situation about 2 months ago and wanted to share my timeline to give you some hope! I completed ID.me on a Tuesday and was also staying with family who kept asking about money every single day - the pressure is so real! My experience: ID.me completed Tuesday → payment status stayed "on hold" until Friday → changed to "pending" Friday afternoon → got paid Monday morning with ALL 8 weeks of back pay in one deposit. So 6 calendar days total, only 4 business days. The key thing I learned is that once your ID.me is complete, NYSDOL has to manually match it to your claim in their system. Sometimes this happens automatically in 2-3 days, sometimes it takes a week. There's really no way to predict it, but the vast majority of people get their money within that 3-8 business day window everyone's been mentioning. About the family situation - what saved my sanity was printing out some screenshots from forums like this one and showing my relatives that this waiting period is completely normal and happens to everyone. Once they understood it wasn't something I could control or speed up, they stopped asking daily. Since you did yours yesterday, I'd watch for that status change to "pending" by early next week. If nothing changes by Thursday, definitely call. But honestly, you did the hardest part already - the verification itself is way more complicated than the payment release. You should have your money soon! 🙏

Just want to add my recent experience to help ease everyone's anxiety! I completed ID.me verification about 10 days ago and was in the exact same boat - staying with family and dealing with constant questions about when the money would come. My timeline: ID.me completed on a Monday → payment status changed from "on hold" to "pending" Thursday morning → got paid the following Tuesday with all 9 weeks of back pay in one deposit. So about 8 calendar days total, 6 business days. The biggest thing that helped me was setting realistic expectations with family upfront. I showed them this exact thread and said "look, everyone waits 3-8 business days, it's completely normal." Once they saw it wasn't just me making excuses, the daily pressure stopped. Also want to mention - when you do get paid, it's likely to be a pretty big lump sum if you're owed multiple weeks. Mine was over $4,000 for 9 weeks, so definitely set up those bank notifications people mentioned so you don't miss it! @Katherine Shultz since you did yours Wednesday, I'd expect movement by early next week. The verification part is definitely the hardest - once that's done, the payment release is pretty automatic. You're almost there! 🙌

The whole system is a mess honestly. I've been unemployed for 2 months and still dealing with adjudication issues. Even when the system is 'open' half the time it doesn't work properly.

I've been dealing with the same frustration! One tip that helped me - if you're getting errors during the Sunday morning maintenance window (2-6 AM), try using the mobile app instead of the website. Sometimes one works when the other doesn't. Also, make sure you're using the correct login credentials - I had issues because I was mixing up my NY.gov account with my old unemployment login. The system can be really picky about browser settings too, so try clearing your cache or using incognito mode if you keep hitting walls.

One more thing - your benefit year is exactly 52 weeks from when you first filed, but you can only collect for up to 26 of those weeks. So if you find work and then get laid off again within that same benefit year, you might be able to reopen your claim instead of filing a new one. Just something to keep in mind for planning purposes.

Just to add to what everyone's saying - make sure you also know about the waiting week! In NY there's usually a one-week waiting period before you start receiving benefits, so your first payable week is actually the second week after you file. Also, if you're in construction like the original poster, you might want to look into whether your union has any additional resources or job placement services that could help with your search requirements. The building trades often have their own networks that can count toward your job contacts.

Glad you got it sorted out! The VPN issue is actually pretty common with ID.me - their system flags VPN traffic as potentially suspicious which can cause verification to stall. For anyone else reading this thread who might be stuck at the same spot, here's a quick checklist that usually helps: ✓ Use Chrome or Firefox (avoid Safari/Edge) ✓ Set browser zoom to 100% ✓ Disable VPN and any privacy extensions temporarily ✓ Use natural lighting or a bright lamp ✓ Make sure all four corners of your ID are visible in the photo ✓ Clear browser cache before starting If you're still having issues after trying these steps, the video verification call option through ID.me support is usually the fastest backup solution. The whole process has definitely gotten more reliable over the past year, but these technical hiccups still happen occasionally.

Just wanted to chime in as someone who works in tech support - the ID.me verification issues you experienced are super common and it's great that you got it resolved! For future reference, another thing that can cause problems is having multiple tabs open with the same site. ID.me sessions can conflict with each other if you have the NY unemployment portal open in multiple browser tabs. Also, if anyone is still having trouble after trying all the browser fixes mentioned here, you can actually call ID.me support directly at 1-855-438-3291. Their phone support is usually faster than the chat option, especially during business hours. They can walk you through the verification process step by step or set up the video call verification immediately. The whole system definitely needs to be more user-friendly, but at least there are workarounds when it gets stuck!

Everyone saying 26 weeks is right, but no one talking about the stupidly low maximum benefit amount in NY 🙄 even if you made good money before, the max benefit is way below what most people need to survive in NY. The whole system needs an overhaul.

Hey there! As someone who's been through the NY unemployment system twice now, I can confirm what others are saying - 26 weeks is definitely the hard limit for regular benefits. But here's what helped me when I was in a similar spot: I started doing odd jobs through apps like Thumbtack and Handy while still collecting partial benefits. Since you're in construction, you probably have skills that are in demand year-round for home repairs and small projects. The key is to report your earnings honestly - it'll reduce your weekly benefit but those partial weeks don't count as full weeks against your 26, so you can stretch it out longer. Also definitely look into that 599 training program someone mentioned earlier - if you can get into an approved trade certification program, it might extend your benefits during training. Start exploring all your options now while you still have a few weeks left. Good luck!