How to Fill Out Form I-9
Hi everyone, I'm Priyanka Prakash, Senior Staff Writer at Fundera, and today I'm going
to walk you through how to fill out Form I-9: Employment Eligibility Verification, which
can be downloaded from USCIS.gov.
This form must be completed for all paid employees to verify their work eligibility and work
status in the United States.
Employers and employees share in the completion of the form.
Let's start with section one, which should be filled out by the employee their first
day on the job.
Employers should provide the form to the employee to fill out Section 1, along with instructions
for the forum which are available at USCIS.gov.
Today, I'm going to play the part of both employee and employer.
Starting as the employee, I'm going to fill out Section 1 with my name, address, and date
of birth.
Entering your social security number is optional unless the employer participates in E-verify.
If the employer participates in E-verify, and you have a social security number, you
must provide that in Section 1.
If you don't have a social security number, or haven't received one yet, you should leave
this field blank.
Email address and phone number are optional, though the USCIS may contact you if there's
a mismatch between the information provided in this form and the information that's in
other government records.
If you choose not to provide email address or phone number, you cannot leave those fields
blank.
You would have to type in N/A if you don't want to provide that information.
In this case, I'm going to provide all three sets of information for Eliza—social security
number, email address, and phone.
You can provide your work email or your personal email.
I suggest providing whichever email you check more frequently.
In the next box, the employee must fill out one of the four employment statuses.
You can choose from citizen of the United States, non-citizen national of the United
States, lawful permanent resident, or alien authorized to work in this country.
Lawful permanent resident is the same thing as a green card holder.
If you're a green card holder, you would check off that box and note down your 7 to 9-digit
A-number or USCIS number.
Currently, A-number and USCIS number are the same, with the exception that the USCIS number
does not have an A-prefix at the beginning.
In this case, I'm going to choose that Eliza Employee is a lawful permanent resident because
she just received her green card last year.
I'll type in her 9-digit USCIS number.
Since there's no prefix, I've gone with the USCIS number.
You'll see that when I chose lawful permanent resident, other blank spaces in this box got
automatically filled in.
That's why it's a lot easier to download this form and fill it out online.
If you're an alien authorized to work in the U.S., which is the last choice in this box,
you must provide one of three verification numbers—your A-number/USCIS number, your
Form I-94 admission number, or your foreign passport number along with the country of
issuance.
At the bottom, don't forget to sign and date the form.
If you're using this form online, you have to print it before you can sign and date.
If the employee used a preparer or translator to fill out Section 1, that individual needs
to complete the preparer or translator certification box at the bottom.
Let's move on to Section 2.
The employer must complete Section 2 before the third day of the individual's employment.
Before filling out this part of the form, you need to physically examine documents proving
the employee’s identity and work authorization.
The documents that the employee can show you are listed on page 4 of this form.
Let's skip down to page 4, so we can see the options that the employee has.
One document from list A is enough to establish both identity and employment authorization.
Alternatively, the employee can provide one document from list B to establish identity
and one document from list C to establish employment authorization.
In most cases, these documents must all be originals, not copies.
In this case, let's say Eliza shows a New York State driver's license to establish identity
and an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) from the Department of Homeland Security to
establish employment authorization.
Let's put in the pertinent details in Section 2.
So for list B (identity), I'm going to choose “driver's license issued by state” and
put in New York as the issuing state.
New York driver's licenses typically have a 9-digit number, and you'll see some helpful
yellow pop ups from the USCIS as you're typing in these details.
That’s just supplemental information for you.
Let's say Eliza’s license expires on January 1, 2025.
Okay, list C for employment authorization, I'm going to choose Employment Authorization
Document (DHS).
That document number is typically SRC followed by 10 digits.
Let's say that Eliza’s EAD expire sooner than our license in October of 2019.
Scroll down to the end of the page, and don't forget to fill out the employee’s first
day of employment.
Let's say that Eliza joined on May 6, 2019.
You can’t sign and date the form until you print it out, so I’ll leave those blank
for now.
In “Title of Employer Authorized Representative,” you typically put down the details of the
person who physically examined the employee’s documents.
Let's say in this case that was the Human Resources director.
And I am going to play that part as Jenny Smith at ABC Corporation.
Let's finally move on to Section 3.
Employers only need to fill out Section 3 of Form I-9 if they're reverifying the work
status of someone whose employment authorization expired, or if they're rehiring someone after
they were terminated or left the company.
In this case, I would have to fill out Section 3 before October of 2019 when Eliza's Employment
Authorization Document from DHS, which I detailed in Section 2, expires.
Before that point, I'd have to ask Eliza for new documentation that establishes her work
authorization in the United States and fill out the pertinent details here in Section
3.
If you've already filled out Section 3 with a previous reverification or rehire, use a
new I-9 form to fill out Section 3.
That's all there is to Form I-9.
You do not file Form I-9 with the government.
Employers must keep a completed Form I-9 on file for each employee.
Hold on to it either in paper or electronic form for three years after the date of hire,
or for one year after employment is terminated, whichever comes later.
Keep in mind that Form I-9 must be completed for any individual who earns wages or other
items of value in exchange for work, such as a commission or bonus.
In most cases, unpaid volunteers or interns who only receive course credit for work need
not complete an I-9.
For all individuals where a Form I-9 is required, make sure that you complete the form and keep
it on file no later than the person's third day of employment.
If you want further confirmation of an employee's eligibility to work in the U.S., you can use
the USCIS’s E-verify system, which is available at e-verify.gov.
E-verify is not a replacement for the I-9.
You still need to fill out Form I-9.
This is simply a helpful tool for further confirming an individual's authorization to
work in the United States or for checking the work status of a number of individuals
at the same time.
Thanks for watching today everyone.
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