Requirements For I-9 Employment Verification
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requires you to complete I-9 employment verification in order to determine if your employees are legally eligible to work in the United States. This includes employees with temporary work authorization.
Lists of acceptable documents
When you are hiring a new employee, you will need to verify their identity using the I-9 form. This is done to ensure that the individual is legally authorized to work in the United States. The Form I-9 includes lists of acceptable documents that can help you verify the applicant’s identification.
The list of acceptable documents is quite extensive. Each document has a different function. Those from List B, for example, demonstrate an individual’s identity and employment authorization. However, employers are not required to require employees to provide documents from this list. Instead, employers may express a preference for a particular document.
Some documents can be presented as receipts. While these are only temporary measures, they can be acceptable in place of actual documents. In fact, some employers even make copies of certain documents. They then need to verify that the original document is still in good shape.
Other examples of acceptable documents include a photocopy of a certified birth certificate. A day care record or doctor’s note can also be presented. An attested copy of a parent or legal guardian’s identity document is also a nice touch.
A receipt can be used in place of an acceptable document if the employer’s document was lost or damaged. But a receipt is only worthless if it does not prove the validity of the document.
Re-verification of employment eligibility of current employees with temporary work authorization
If you have a worker with temporary work authorization, you must re-verify his or her employment eligibility before the authorization expires. You must determine if the documents provided by the worker are genuine.
During re-verification, an employer or an agent must examine the original documents to ensure they are genuine. He or she must provide an employee with the opportunity to present additional, acceptable documents.
A document is not considered acceptable if it was obtained by fraud or forgery. For example, a fax copy of a social security card does not qualify.
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) prohibits discrimination based on citizenship or national origin. It also prohibits retaliation.
Employers must not employ a worker who is ineligible for employment. In addition, they cannot allow workers to work after the work authorization has expired.
Before reverifying, an employer must establish a policy and record the details of documents presented. This information should be stored on the I-9 form.
When reverifying an employee’s employment authorization, an employer should be prepared to reject documentation that does not appear to be genuine. Depending on the employer’s policy, the worker may be placed on leave of absence or terminated.
Employers should never re-verify an employee who has permanent resident status. Permanent resident status does not expire because the permanent residence card expires.
Requirements for students
If you are hiring a student you will need to know about the requirements for I-9 employment verification. These requirements aren’t all that different from those of the average employee. You’ll also want to be able to complete the form on time.
The Form I-9 must be completed in a timely manner. This means not only must you know about the requirements for I-9 employment verification but you must have the required documents on hand. Assuming you don’t already have them on hand, you may have to make a trip to the post office or the campus library.
You’ll need to provide at least one acceptable document, and no more than four. In fact, you won’t get all four. Your employer will want to review the documents to confirm that you have complied with the requirements for I-9 employment verification.
There’s a reason why the requirements for I-9 employment verification are a tad more complicated than the standard employee verification process. For instance, the requirements for I-9 employment verification might be a bit higher for international students. Although students from foreign countries are permitted to work up to 20 hours a week during the school year, they must have proper identification to prove they’re bona fide workers. A list of acceptable documents can be found at the UW’s Office of Global Learning.
