What Everyone Should Know About the I-9 Employment Verification Form

The Immigration Reform Act requires all workers in the United States to have their identity verified by completing the I-9 Employment Verification form. This is done for two primary reasons. The first one is to have the employee’s identity verified, and secondly to see if he/she is eligible to work legally in the United States.

The I-9 Employment Verification form is not your ordinary form. Each employee must be extra careful when filling up the form, since missing any steps or forgetting to include any proper documentation might result in fines or, even worst, serious legal complications.

In this article, we will discuss everything that an employee in the Washington DC area should know about the I-9 Employee Verification form.

1. List A: Documents that Establish Identity and Eligibility

The form requires documentation that proves your identity, subsequently eligibility to work in the United States. The documents required by the Immigration Reform Act are:

• S. Passport that can be eighter expired and unexpired
• Certification of U.S. citizenship (forms n-560 or n-561)
• Certification of naturalization (forms n-550 or n-570)
• Unexpired foreign passport with an I-94 form attached indicating unexpired employment authorization
• Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card with photograph (Form I-551)
• Unexpired Temporary Resident Card (Form I-688)
• Unexpired Employment Authorization Card (Form I-688A)
• Unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327)
• Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form 1-571)
• Unexpired Employment Authorization Document issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that contains a photograph (Form I-688B)

These documents can be used to establish proof of identity and eligibility to work in the United States. For information on all forms and anything related to the I-9 form, make sure to click here.

2. List B: Documents that Establish Identity

There are cases where a worker doesn’t have any of the above-mentioned documents. In this case, he is required to present two documents; one to prove his/her identity, and the second to prove his/her eligibility to work. The documents accepted can be eighter of the following:

• A Driver’s license or ID card. The document in question must be issued by a state or outlying possession of the United States. The document also must contain a photograph of the person, full name, date of birth, gender, eye color, height, and address of living.
• An ID card issued by any federal, state, or local government agencies or similar entities. The ID card also must contain a photograph of the person, full name, date of birth, gender, height, eye color, and address of living.
• A school ID card with a photograph of the person.
• Voter’s registration card.
• S. Military card or draft record documents.
• Military dependent’s card.
• S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Card.
• Native American tribal document/
• Driver’s license issued by the Canadian government.

3. List C: Documents that Establish Eligibility of Employment

In the case of a worker being unable to provide documents from List A, a worker must present an additional document that proves his employment eligibility in addition to the documents from List B. The document in question is one of the following:

• S. Social Security Card stating the validity of employment.
• Certification of Birth Abroad, issued by the Department of State.
• Native American tribal document.
• S. Citizen ID card.
• ID Card for Resident Citizen of the United States.
• Unexpired employment document issued by the DHS.