How to Fax an Unemployment Claim Online for Free

​The recent coronavirus crisis has dealt a massive blow to the economy of millions of families across the United States. There has been a 3000% increase in jobless claims, with 6.6 million workers who have filed for unemployment benefits initially, a record number that just a few months ago we wouldn’t expect to see.

However, as the New York Times reported, there are still hundreds of thousands of people who have been unable to apply because they are required to fax their papers.  Going to an office store such as Staples isn’t an option for many.  First you have the risk of getting infected and second, many of these offices are closed due to state restrictions.

If you are currently dealing with this problem rest assured that there is a better alternative - and you don’t have to get away from home: online faxing.  

With digital faxing technology, you can send a fax directly from your computer.  You can fax different file types including fax to PDF, DOC, TXT and image files like JPG and BMP. The best of all is that you don’t need a fax machine, and even if you have a hard copy of a document you can take a picture of it with your phone and send it.

There are two options to send a fax for free right now: signing up for a free trial with a fax service, and using a website that lets you fax for free (with some conditions).

Option 1:  Using a Free Trial Account with a Service

There are many online fax services that offer free trials for a full month, among them great ones like eFax or MyFax. ​

The main advantage of using this method is that it’s easy and reliable. Sending a fax is just like sending an email, but you can also use a web form.  Another advantage is that during these 30 days you’ll have your own free fax number in case you need to receive a faxed response, when you create an account you can pick a local number from the list.

Some services also have mobile apps which let you take a picture of your pay stubs and fax it in just one step.  Another huge benefit is security, you are guaranteed your papers travel through an encrypted transmission.  

Option 2: Using a Free Fax Site

If you only want to send a single fax or a limited number of pages, or are uncomfortable signing up with your card you may use the help of sites like FaxZero or GotFreeFax, which let you send a limited number of pages per day.

These sites, although helpful, are only compatible with DOC, DOCX and PDF files.  If you want to fax your unemployment papers, you will need to convert your photo into a PDF first.  This can be a problem for people who don’t know how to do this.

You should also consider that con only send a maximum of 3 pages per day, and your faxes will be preceded with a cover page with the website’s ads.  

Finally, these services only let you send fax from Gmail, if you need to receive papers as well you will have to pay for a number.

No matter which options you choose, online faxing can help you stay at home and reduce the chances of getting infected, while still taking care of your unemployment benefit papers.