How Do I Check the Status of My Unemployment Claim with the Illinois Department of Employment Security?

In a nutshell: If you’ve applied for unemployment benefits in Illinois, checking your application status can be simple. Note that the first week is an unpaid waiting period. You will receive a UI Finding letter within 7 to 10 business days. For quicker updates, use Illinois' ILogin to access your ID

Introduction

If you have recently applied to the state of Illinois for unemployment benefits, you may be eager to find out when your application status is approved and how much your benefit is going to be. You have a few different options for checking on your application status. All of them a pretty simple.

What You'll Need

Please note that your first week of unemployment will not be paid even if you are approved for benefits. The first week in any benefits year is always classified as an unpaid waiting period.If your request for unemployment benefits are denied, you will have the opportunity to appeal the decision. You can do so from the IDES "File an Unemployment Claim" page.

The easiest way to check on the status of your application is to just keep checking your mail.

You should receive a UI Finding letter providing a state's decision on your application within 7 to 10 business days after you submit your application. That could work out to as much as 14 days in total, or more if holidays are involved.
If you want to find out your application status without having to wait that long, or if it has been more than 10 business days without receiving your letter, continue on with the next steps.

Go to the State of Illinois' ILogin sign in page.

State of Illinois' ILogin sign in page
To check the status of your application online, you need to sign up for ILogin, the identity verification tool that Illinois uses for accessing IDES (Illinois Department of Employment Services) accounts.
If you want to check on the status of your application in person, skip to step 9.

How Do I Check the Status of My Unemployment Claim with the Illinois Department of Employment Security? (Step 2)

Click on the "Sign up" link toward the bottom of the page.

Enter your personal information and address in the text fields provided.

How Do I Check the Status of My Unemployment Claim with the Illinois Department of Employment Security? (Step 4)

Choose a password for your IDES account.

It must be at least 8 characters long and have at least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, one number, and one special character.

Click on the Sign Up button.

To use ILogin to check on the status of your application, proceed with the next step.

Go back to the State of Illinois' ILogin sign in page to sign in to your IDES account.

Go to your account dashboard.

Updates to your account status will be displayed on your account dashboard. Here you can see if your case has been decided yet.
Do not proceed with subsequent steps.

Go to the IDES office locator.

IDES office locator

How Do I Check the Status of My Unemployment Claim with the Illinois Department of Employment Security? (Step 9)

Enter your ZIP code in the text field on the left at the top of the form.

Select the radius in miles to search from the drop down menu next to it.

If you want all the offices within 20 miles of your ZIP code, for example, select the "20" option.

Find a convenient nearby office location.

Go to the IDES office you selected and talk to someone about your application status.

It may be wise to call in advance and make an appointment, if you want to avoid the wait.

Conclusion

If you need any assistance, call an Illinois Department of Employment Services customer support representative to get it. You can reach one from Monday to Friday from 5:00 am to 7:30 pm EST. The offices are closed on weekends.

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