You can see a sample of the of the application and study it before you complete it online. If you have not applied before, you are strongly encouraged to look at this sample before you file.

Yes. You must list all of your employers for the last 2 years. There is room to list up to 16 employers on the application. If worked for more than 16 employers in the last 2 years, you should file your claim by calling the Unemployment Claims TeleCenter at 1-800-318-6022.

Get the dates as close as you can. It's okay to estimate dates that you don't remember.

No. You must give us the dates you worked for your employers because your employer(s) only report your wages and hours for the calendar quarters in which you earned the wages. Your employer(s) do not report the dates you worked.

Our computer system will not accept a future date. Instead, you should put your last actual day of work. For example, if you worked today, put today's date, even if you are going to work tomorrow. You don't have to wait until you are actually unemployed to file your application.

You have a limited number of options to tell us why you are no longer employed. Choose the one that best describes your situation. If you cannot locate a description that best describes your situation, you might want to call the TeleCenter to file your claim.

Examples:

Situation	Choose
I told my employer "I quit"	Quit
Employer let me go, or replaced me	Fired/Discharged
I'm unemployed due to a lockout or strike (not an argument between me & my employer)	Labor Dispute/Strike
I'm filing to lock-in or freeze my claim	Still Employed (does not waive work search)
My employer has no work available or my job was eliminated or business closed	Lack of Work
I (or my employer) requested a leave of absence. I'm guaranteed work at the end of my leave of absence	Leave of Absence
I was fired for a felony or gross misdemeanor in the past 2 years	Felony/Gross Misdemeanor
My hours were reduced to less than my customary full-time hours with my regular employer. I will have wages to report each week	Partially Unemployed

If you want to go back to a previous page, simply click on the name of the page you would like to view located on the menu to the left-side of your screen.

Because of field size limitations in the computer system, you may find spaces that are not large enough to hold all of the information you want to provide. If this happens, just abbreviate your answer. For example, "Mountlake Terrace" will not fit in the City field; abbreviate it as "Mtlk Terrace", "Mountlake Terr", or something similar.

The application is designed for the most commonly-used screen resolution, which is 800x600. If your screen resolution is set to 640x480, you can still file your application, but you will have to scroll from side to side to answer the questions.

If you file your claim on the Internet, the effective date is the Sunday of the week you file. If you want to claim for any back weeks, you need to call the Unemployment Claims TeleCenter and ask to backdate your claim.

Certain questions on the application refer to "this week". This means the calendar week you are currently in as you file the application. Calendar weeks start at 12:01 Sunday morning and end at midnight the following Saturday.

Only referral unions are listed. A referral union is one that refers its members to jobs. Members of these unions are relieved of most of the requirements to make an active work search. The union must also participate in our referral union program in order for us to list it. If you belong to another kind of union, you don't need to list it.

Unemployment benefits are taxable. If you tell us that you want a deduction taken from your weekly benefits check to go towards your taxes, we will deduct 10% and send it directly to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). We cannot refund this money to you; only the IRS can do that. You can read more about IRS deductions at Are my UI benefits taxable? on the Frequently Asked Questions About Unemployment Insurance page.

To be eligible to collect Unemployment Insurance, you must be in the United States legally and you must have been in this country legally when you earned the wages that make up your claim.

You are eligible to collect unemployment insurance benefits if you are:

• A United States citizen (you were born here or, you were born elsewhere and one or both of your parents were US citizens), you are by definition legally entitled to work in the United States. Citizens of the U.S. include persons born in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
• An "American National", (you, or one or both of your parents, were born in an outlying possession of the United States -- for example, American Samoa -- and you owe allegiance to the United States), you are legally entitled to work in the United States. American Nationals of the U.S. include persons born in American Samoa, including Swains Island.
• A resident alien with legal authorization to work here, then you are legally entitled to work in the United States. However, you must provide your Alien Registration Number and certify that you were legally entitled to work in the United States in the last two years.

It contains information on how and when to file your weekly claims and when you will start receiving benefits. You will be prompted to print out this page for your records. Be sure to print the page before you click on the "I Accept" at the bottom. However, if you do not have a printer you can review the same filing instructions on the Unemployment Insurance website at I've Filed My Application; Now What?

You need to start filing your weekly claims. Unemployment begins with the first week that you file your application for benefits. This first week is called the "Waiting Week" and you will not be paid for it. We generally do not pay benefits for any weeks you were unemployed prior to filing your application. If you want your claim to be effective any other week, call the Unemployment Claims TeleCenter to request a different effective date.

No. You need to wait until after midnight Saturday to file your weekly claim. If you file your application late in the week, please give us at least two business days to process your application before filing your first weekly claim. You can file your weekly claim by using the Internet Weekly Claim or by calling the Unemployment Information and Weekly Claims line. You will receive detailed instructions for filing your weekly claim after you file your initial application for benefits.

General Information about Unemployment Insurance.

Unemployment Insurance Inquiries -- General questions about Unemployment Insurance or specific questions about your claim for benefits.

Internet Claims Technical Support -- Problems with the Internet Initial Claim or the Internet Continued Claim process.

NOTE: If you are contacting us because you are experiencing problems with the application, you need to provide us with information on your operating system (e.g., Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows XP, Mac OS-X, Linux, etc.) and your web browser (e.g., Internet Explorer 5.5, Netscape 6.0, etc.). This information is necessary for us to be able to identify and correct the problems.

• The payments are not assigned to any period after the date you were separated from your employer.
• You are not on call or in any way available to your employer in order to receive these benefits.
• Fringe benefits (vacation, retirement, sick etc) do not continue to accrue.
• You accept a new job and it does not affect your severance pay.