All U.S. employers must ensure proper completion of Form I-9 for each individual that they hire for employment in the United States.

This includes both citizens and non-citizens, and both employees and employers must complete their own section of the form.

What is the process for an I-9?

1. In section 1 of Form I-9, an employee must attest to their employment authorization. They must also present their employer with acceptable documentation evidencing identity and employment authorization*.
2. The employer must examine the employment eligibility and provided documents to determine whether they reasonably appear to be genuine. In section 2 of Form I-9, the employer relates to the employee a record of the documentation information.

*There is a list of acceptable documents that can be found on the last page of the form.

Compliance considerations

When it comes to compliance, timing is everything.

• Once an offer of employment is accepted, the employee must complete section 1 of Form I-9 no later than the first day of work for pay.
• Section 2 of Form I-9, the validation of those documents that the employer provides in person, must be completed by the employer within three business days of the employee’s first day of work for pay.

Employers are required to have a completed Form I-9 on file for each employee on payroll and must retain those original I-9 forms for three years after the date of hire or one year after the date employment ends, whichever is later.

Once those I-9 forms are completed, then you will use E-Verify.