Employers are required to fill out this documentation for both U.S. citizens and non-citizens for them to work in the country legally.

Form I-9 is necessary for all employers in the state, though it may be technical and may require time to grasp. We are providing legal guidance and documents for you through the process. Would you like to understand the process?

Employers are required under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to verify their employees’ identity and their eligibility to work in the U.S. For this reason, employers have to retain original I-9 Forms for current employees and, for former employees, keep them for at least three years.

All U.S. employers must complete Form I-9 for each person they employ in the country. These forms need not be submitted to the government but must be available for inspection.

Federal officers (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)) may, from time to time, ask to inspect an employer’s Form I-9 or Employment Eligibility Verification for all employees. A written NOI (Notice of Inspection) should generally be received by an employer 3 days before the inspection.

Only ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) of the Department of Justice, and Department of Labor officers are authorized to conduct I-9 inspections.

There are civil or criminal penalties against those employers who do not comply with the law.

As part of the process, during a Form I-9 Inspection, employers are required to have worked with legal counsel to provide the necessary documents. Apart from the inferred Form I-9, these could include payroll records, employee lists, articles of incorporation, and business licenses.

The employer usually works hand in hand with their counsel to retrieve any electronically stored documents requested and provide the ICE officer with the hardware and software needed to view them. The employer must also provide an electronic summary of information on the Form I-9s if one exists.