What Is Form I-9: Employment Eligibility Verification?

Form 1-9: Employment Eligibility Verification is a form used by the U.S. government to verify the identity of individuals who are hired to work in the United States. The form is issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. It is intended to prove the identity and eligibility of workers in the U.S. Form 1-9 is completed by the employee and must be accompanied by supporting documents that the employer verifies. Employers who don't comply with I-9 procedures can face fines and penalties.

Key Takeaways

Form I-9 is used by companies that hire personnel for employment in the United States to verify work eligibility.

Employers are legally required to verify a potential employee’s identity and whether they are authorized to work in the U.S.

Employers who hire and continue to employ workers they know are unauthorized or who fail to produce a form for inspection by immigration officers may face fines and penalties.

Form I-9 can only be completed and considered by employers after a worker has a job offer to prevent the employer from discriminating based on immigration status.

As noted above, the employee is responsible for completing Form I-9 while the employer is responsible for recording and verifying the supporting documents that prove the employee's identity and their employment eligibility.

Individuals may complete a hard copy of the form. Form I-9 can also be completed and signed electronically by downloading it from the USCIS website. A link to the form is provided below.

The form must be filed directly with the employee and should not be submitted to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employers must retain a copy of the form for three years after an employee is hired or for a full year after they are terminated, whichever is later. It must be available for inspection by an employee from Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), or the Department of Justice if requested.

Important

Individuals under the age of 18 may present a school record, report card, medical record, or day-care/nursery school record if they cannot present a document from List B.

Form I-9 is divided into two parts. Section 1 must be filled out by the employee. This portion, which acts as the employee's attestation, must be completed by the first day of employment. The employee provides the following information in this section:

The employee must sign and date the form.

Section 2 requires documentation from the employee that the employer must verify. Employees must provide one document from List A (establishes identity and employment eligibility) or one document from List B (establishes identity) and List C (establishes employment eligibility). The table below highlights the documents from each list.

Acceptable Documents for Form I-9
LIST A   or   LIST B   and   LIST C  
U.S. passport or passport card        State driver's license with photo and personal information       Eligible Social Security account number without restrictions  
Permanent resident (Green) card       Federal, state, or local ID card with photo and personal information       State Department-issued birth certificate (Forms DS-1350, FS-545, or FS-240)  
Foreign passport with I-551 stamp or visa     School ID card with photo     Birth certificate (original or certified copy)  
Employment authorization document with photo     Voter registration card     Native American tribunal document  
Foreign passport and Form I-94 for individuals with temporary work authorization due to status or parole     U.S. military card or draft record     U.S. citizen ID card (Form I-179)  
Passport from Federated States of Micronesia or Republic of Marshall Islands with Form i-94 or Form I-94A     Military dependent ID card     Employment authorization document  
    U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner card      
    Native American tribunal document      
    Canadian driver's license      

Page 3 of Form I-9 is called Supplement A. It must be completed by an individual who prepares or translates Section 1 for an employee. Supplement B, which is found on Page 4, is used whenever an employer rehires an employee within three years of the original Form I-9 being completed or if that employee has a legal name change.

Fast Fact

Employees only need to complete Form I-9 once unless they are rehired or have a legal name change with proof.

Penalties are imposed on employers who fail to comply with I-9 rules. Fines are triggered when employers:

Penalties can increase when an employer has subsequent violations.

Technical violations of I-9 requirements are not penalized immediately. Employers are notified of the violations and given 10 business days to correct the errors. 

Failure of the employee to date the form at the time employment begins

Failure to provide the date that employment begins

Failure to date the employer section of the form within three business days of the date that employment begins

Failure to provide the date of rehiring an employee in the section of the form used for rehiring

Failure to enter an employer’s business title, name, or address

An employer who can demonstrate good faith compliance has a rebuttable defense to any penalty that the government attempts to impose. Once this is done, it is up to the government to show that the employer did not act in good faith. 

Form I-9

Employers cannot consider national origin and citizenship or immigration status when hiring, firing, or recruiting potential employees. Using this information in employment decisions is discriminatory.

This means that an employer cannot use Form I-9 as a prerequisite to making an offer of employment because merely suspecting that someone may be ineligible and refraining from making a job offer can be discriminatory. The form is only completed once a person has been offered a job.

Form I-9 has not been replaced by E-Verify, an online method of quickly determining eligibility to work in the United States. Completing, retaining, and storing the Form I-9 for each newly hired employee is still mandatory, even if an employer voluntarily opts to use E-Verify.

When Must Form I-9 Be Completed?

Form I-9 must be completed and submitted to the employer no later than the first day of employment. Employers must retain the form for three years after the employee is hired or for one year after they are terminated. It must be produced if requested by someone from Homeland Security, the Department of Labor, or the Department of Justice.

What's an Example of a Form I-9 Violation?

In February 2015 a temporary staffing firm was hit with a $226,270 fine for falsely claiming it had verified work eligibility for 242 employees it hired. Despite signing Form I-9 under penalty of perjury that the information was correct, the firm had not looked at the actual documents, only photocopies.

Are Form I-9 and E-Verify the Same Thing?

No. Form I-9 and E-Verify are not the same thing. E-Verify is an electronic system that compares an employee's Form I-9 to information from Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration (SSA). The purpose is to verify employment eligibility. This means that E-Verify does not replace Form I-9, which employers are still required to collect and retain.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act was enacted in 1986 to legalize about 2.7 million undocumented immigrants while attempting to deter future undocumented immigration. Form I-9 was created to require newly hired workers to show eligibility to work in the U.S. And that remains in effect today. As such, employers must properly complete Form I-9 whenever they hire someone new or for a certain period after the employee leaves. The document must be retained and produced upon request of a government agency.