How do you apply for Texas unemployment?

Your claim starts on the Sunday of the week you apply, and TWC cannot pay benefits for weeks before that date. Apply only after your last workday. If your last job was through a temporary agency or staff leasing company, or you worked outside Texas, read the temp agency, staff leasing, and out-of-state rules before you apply.

What to have ready

You must provide:

• Your Social Security number
• Your state driver license or state ID card number, from a card that has not expired
• Your last employer's business name, address, and phone number
• The first and last dates you worked for your last employer, with month, day, and year (if you worked there more than once, give the most recent dates)
• Your hours and pay rate, if you worked during the week you apply (Sunday through Saturday)
• Information about the normal wage for the job you are looking for
• Your military service start and end dates and a copy of your DD Form 214, if you served in the military in the past 18 months
• Your Alien Registration number, if you are not a U.S. citizen or national

When you apply, you also choose how TWC pays you. Direct deposit puts payments into your checking or savings account at a U.S. bank or credit union. If you do not sign up for direct deposit, TWC puts your payments on a TWC debit card. To change your choice later, select Payment Option in UBS, or call Tele-Serv, TWC's automated phone system, at 800-558-8321 and select Option 5.

Apply online or through a Tele-Center

To apply online, go to Unemployment Benefits Services and select Apply for Benefits. The online application is only in English and Spanish. TWC says its internet service is generally faster than calling a Tele-Center.

To apply by phone, call a Tele-Center at 800-939-6631 during regular business hours and speak to customer service. TWC's glossary defines a business day as Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Time. Other languages are available on request, and TWC accepts calls from any Relay Service.

Your UBS User ID, password, and PIN

If you already have a User ID and password from WorkInTexas.com, TWC's job search site, you can use them to log on to UBS. If not, you create a unique User ID, password, and Personal Identification Number (PIN), a number you choose. You need your PIN to confirm your identity in UBS and on Tele-Serv.

Do not give your User ID, password, or PIN to anyone, even a family member or a TWC employee. They have the same legal authority as your signature, and you are responsible for any payment requests made with them.

If you have trouble with a UBS account you already have, do not create a new account. Instead, submit a contact request to the TWC Help Desk.

Temp agencies, staff leasing, and other states

If your last job was for a temporary agency:

1. Contact the agency right away for a new assignment.
2. Wait 3 business days after your last assignment ended, then apply.

The agency has 3 business days to offer you a new assignment. If you turn down the next assignment, you may not be eligible for benefits.

If your last job was for a staff leasing company, also called a professional employer organization (PEO), contact the PEO right away for a new assignment. When a company pays you through a PEO, the PEO's name is on your paycheck or pay stub, and the PEO is your employer. To be eligible for benefits, you must contact the PEO for a new assignment no later than the next business day each time you complete one.

If you worked in a state other than Texas, apply for benefits in that state. If you worked in more than one state, you may be able to combine those state claims into one claim.

If you worked in Texas during your base period but now live in another state or in Canada, apply in Texas.

Register on WorkInTexas.com within 3 business days

You must register for work search on WorkInTexas.com, TWC's online job search and job matching system, within 3 business days of the date you applied. Registration is a separate process from your benefits application. Use your Social Security number so TWC can verify that you registered.

This applies if you live in Texas or regularly commute to work in Texas from Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, or Oklahoma. If you live anywhere else, register within 3 business days with the American Job Center in the state where you live, and follow all of that state's requirements. America's Service Locator finds workforce services near you.

Workforce Solutions offices offer free job search services and can help you complete your registration. Many of them help by phone or online, as well as at in-person appointments.

What happens after you apply

1. If TWC sends you a notice to verify your identity, complete it on TWC's identity verification page, either online with ID.me or in person at a participating post office. If you do not complete it, your benefits are delayed or denied. To verify at a post office, register first, then go within 7 calendar days and bring your USPS Enrollment Code.
2. Check the Statement of Wages and Potential Benefit Amounts that TWC mails you, and call a Tele-Center at 800-939-6631 right away if anything on it is wrong. If you worked in another state, for the federal government, or in the military, those wages are not on the first statement, because TWC has to request them. TWC sends you a new statement whenever it receives more wage information. How much it pays explains the amounts it shows.
3. About 1 to 2 weeks after you apply, make your first payment request on the date in TWC's instructions, and keep requesting every 2 weeks. Do not wait for TWC to tell you whether you are eligible. Payment requests covers how to request and when payments arrive.
4. Check your claim status in UBS under Claim and Payment Status, or call Tele-Serv at 800-558-8321 and select Option 2. TWC updates its systems nightly, so it suggests checking once a day.
5. It takes about 4 weeks from the date you apply to learn whether you are eligible. Who qualifies explains what TWC looks at.

Watch your mail and keep your address current

After you apply, TWC mails you:

• Unemployment Benefits Work Search Guidelines, with examples of acceptable work search activities
• Instructions to Request Benefit Payments, which explain how to set up your PIN, when and how to request payments, and how to check your payment status or claim balance
• Information on Pell Grants, training assistance, and TWC-approved training
• The Unemployment Benefits Handbook, with basic information about benefits, including your rights and responsibilities
• A work search log for recording your work search activities

Tell TWC right away if your mailing address changes, which you can do in UBS. Update it even after you stop receiving benefits, because TWC mails benefit and appeal documents, and IRS forms, to the most current address you gave.