Illinois

• If you move from Texas to Illinois on unemployment, Illinois becomes the agent state in your interstate claim. As the agent state, Illinois accepts your unemployment claim, verifies your weekly claim certifications and distributes your payments. All of the rules about filing a claim and receiving payments that apply to your interstate claim come from Illinois state law, and are enforced by the Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES.
  
  

Texas

• In this scenario, Texas is the liable state in your interstate unemployment claim. Since Texas was the state you performed your work in, your employer paid the payroll taxes on your salary to Texas's revenue department. Therefore, Texas funds your compensation payments, decides how much those payments can be and determines your eligibility based on its state laws. When you apply for your benefits with Illinois, it contacts Texas to confirm your eligibility and payment amounts. Then it recoups the amount of those payments from Texas.
  
  

Before You Move

• You should start preparing for your move as soon as you know your new address in Illinois. Contact the Texas Workforce Commission, or TWC, to update your address in their files. Contact the United States Post Office to have your mail forwarded from your old address. Remember that it takes seven to 10 days for the USPS to start forwarding your mail, and it doesn't forward some documents.
  
  

After You Move

• Contact the IDES as soon as you move to Illinois. File an initial claim for benefits using the state's telephone claim system. You need your Social Security number or alien registration number when you call. You also need all of the information about your employment history for the previous 18 months, including your employers' contact information, your employment dates and your previous salary information. The IDES contacts the TWC with this information while processing your claim, then contacts you when it has a determination on your claim.