US Employers must verify employment authorization and Identity of new employees

Form I-9 helps employers to verify individuals who are authorized to work in the United States. Employers should complete a Form I-9 for every new employee the hire after November 6, 1986.

Providing a Social Security number on Form I-9 is voluntary for all employees unless you are an employer participating in the USCIS E-Verify Program, which requires an employee’s Social Security number for employment eligibility verification. You may not ask an employee to provide you a specific document with his or her Social Security number on it. To do so may constitute unlawful discrimination.

You DO NOT need to complete a Form I-9 for persons who are:

1. Hired before November 7, 1986, who are continuing in their employment and have a reasonable expectation of employment at all times;
2. Employed for casual domestic work in a private home on a sporadic, irregular, or intermittent basis;
   
3. Independent contractors; or
   
4. Providing labor to you who are employed by a contractor providing contract services (e.g., employee leasing or temporary agencies).
   
5. Not physically working on U.S. soil.

Electronic Fillable Form I-9 in PDF

E-verify Program

E-Verify is an Internet-based system that allows an employer, using information reported on an employee's Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to determine the eligibility of that employee to work in the United States. For most employers, the use of E-Verify is voluntary and limited to determining the employment eligibility of new hires only. There is no charge to employers to use E-Verify. The E-Verify system is operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration.

E-Verify is mandatory for some employers, such as those employers with federal contracts or subcontracts that contain the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) E-Verify clause and employers in certain states.

E-Verify is a voluntary program for employers, with limited exceptions. Companies can access E-Verify online and compare an employee's Form I-9 information with over 444 million records in the Social Security Administration database, and more than 60 million records in Department of Homeland Security immigration databases. E-Verify is an essential tool for employers committed to maintaining a legal workforce, and the number of registered employers is growing by over 1,200 per week.

E-Verify cannot be used to pre-screen employment elegibility of candidates. I can be used only to verify the employment elegibility status of new employees.

View E-Verify Demo Video