I-9 form: the deadlines and the edition are what get audited

The I-9 form — Employment Eligibility Verification — is the record every United States employer must complete for every person hired, documenting that the employee’s identity and authorisation to work were examined. It applies to citizens and non-citizens alike, it is not filed with anybody, and it is kept by the employer and produced on request.

Which is where the money is lost. Enforcement in this area is overwhelmingly about the paperwork rather than about unauthorised employment: a section completed a day late, a blank date field, a form that used last year’s edition, an employee signature missing. Those are the findings that generate penalties per form, across every form in the file, at organisations that never knowingly hired anyone they should not have.

The two sections and their deadlines

• Section one is the employee’s. It must be completed no later than the first day of employment — and not before an offer has been accepted.
• Section two is the employer’s. The employer examines original documents and completes it within three business days of the first day of work. For employment of fewer than three days, it is due on the first day.
• The employer must physically examine the documents, or use an authorised alternative procedure where the employer qualifies for one. Whether a remote examination option applies to you depends on current rules and your enrolment status, so check rather than assume.
• Section three, or its equivalent on the current edition, covers rehires and reverification of expiring work authorisation. Note that permanent resident cards and list B identity documents are not reverified.
• A preparer or translator who helps the employee complete section one signs the certification for that.

Use the current edition of the I-9 form

The form has an edition date printed on it, and USCIS periodically issues a new one with an expiry for the old. Continuing to use a superseded edition is a violation on its own, regardless of whether the content was completed correctly, and it is the easiest finding an auditor will ever make — every form in the drawer is wrong at once. Check the edition date against the current one before each hiring cycle, and never keep a stack of pre-printed blanks that outlives the edition.

Do not backdate. If a form was completed late, complete it now and date it now; the late completion is a lesser problem than a false date, which changes the character of the finding entirely. Corrections are made by lining through the error, entering the correct information, and initialling and dating the change — never by overwriting or using correction fluid.

What the employer may not do

The employer may not specify which documents the employee presents, may not demand more or different documents than those the list allows, and may not reject documents that reasonably appear genuine and relate to the person. Doing so is document abuse, and it carries its own penalty regime separate from the paperwork one. The rule holds even when the intention is diligence: asking a lawful permanent resident for their green card specifically, rather than letting them choose from the list, is a violation. The list itself is set out in i 9 acceptable documents.

Retention and where the forms live

Keep each form for three years after the date of hire or one year after employment ends, whichever is later — which means the retention clock differs per person and has to be tracked rather than remembered. Store the I-9s separately from personnel files so an audit produces the I-9s and nothing else, and be consistent about whether you keep document copies: copy for everyone or for no one, never selectively. Ettex PDF fills and flattens the current edition, Ettex Records holds the forms with the per-person retention date visible, and Ettex Sheets tracks reverification dates for employees whose authorisation expires.

Being direct: this is documents and records, not an I-9 or immigration compliance product, and none of it is legal advice. Editions, remote examination rules and penalty amounts change; USCIS guidance and an employment lawyer are the authorities, not a blog post.