Overview:

The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) sought to control illegal migration by eliminating employment opportunity as a key incentive for unauthorized persons to come to the U.S. IRCA makes all U.S. employers responsible for verifying the identity and work authorization or eligibility of all individuals, whether U.S. citizens or not, hired after November 6, 1986.

See the I-9 Training Presentation.

Recent Changes in the Law:

• Employers will no longer be able to accept expired documents.
• The list of acceptable documents in each category has changed.

Employer Responsibilities:

• Must provide the Form I-9 and it's instructions to new hires either prior to or on their first day of work.
• Review the Form I-9 and the original documents presented by the employee to satisfy the Lists A, B, and C requirements.
• Ensure that the new employee has completed and signed Section I of the Form I-9 no later than the first day of employment.
• Departments cannot specify which documents the employee should present for the Form I-9 verification process.  They must allow employees to present any document or combination of documents acceptable by law.  However, the documents cannot be expired.
• Must complete Section II of the form by the third day of employment using the original documentation provided by the employee.
• Must make copies of the List A, or List B and C documents presented by the employee to complete Section II.
• Once complete, the Form I-9, along with copies of the documents presented, should be sent by campus mail or dropped off in the Payroll Office.
• Must stop employment of any employee not providing work authorization within three days of hire.
• Terminate any employee not completing Section I or providing work authorization on the first day of employment when hired for a period of less than three days.
• Monitor work authorization expiration dates.

Employee Responsibilities:

• Must complete and sign Section 1 of Form I-9 by the first day of employment.
• Must present original documents establishing identity and employment eligibility within three days of employment or at the time of hire if employed for less than three business days.
• If a receipt for application of lost, stolen, or damaged documents is used for the initial Form I-9 verification process, the employee must provide the Payroll Office with the original replacement document within 90 days of hire.
• Provide original documentation for work authorization extensions.

Completing The I-9 Form:

Section 1

In this section of the Form I-9, the employee provides information on their employment eligibility.  They must complete this section prior to or on the first day of work.  Below is a list of information the employee provides:

Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial 

The employee will need to put their full name into these fields.  Names should be entered as they are legally registered.  No nicknames.

Other Last Names Used

The employee will use this section to indicate if they have ever had any other legal names.  

Address

The employee should enter the address where they are currently living.  PO Boxes are not acceptable.

Date of Birth

The employee's date of birth should be entered in the MM/DD/YYYY format.

Social Security Number

The employee's Social Security Number is only required when E-Verify is used.  Currently the university only enters information into the federal E-Verify program for employees working on federal projects.

Employee's E-Mail and Telephone Number

This information is not required.  If the employee does not want to provide this information, they should enter N/A in these fields.

Citizenship

The employee must indicate their citizenship or immigration status by checking a box next to one of the four options.  Those options are US Citizen, Non-Citizen National, Lawful Permanent Resident, and Alien Authorized to Work.  If Lawful Permanent Resident or Alien Authorized to Work is checked, additional information will be required as indicated on the Form I-9.

Signature of Employee and Preparer and/or Translator Certification

Once the employee has completed all of the fields in Section 1, they will need to sign and date the section in the designated field.  If anyone helped the employee complete the form (translator, etc.), that person will also need to sign the form in the Preparer and/or Translator Certification section. 

Section 2

The employer or authorized representative must complete this section within three business days of hire date - i.e., the first day the employee shows up for work. Employee may NOT work until Section 2 is complete.  The documents provided for Section 2 must be original and unexpired.  Employers cannot request or require employees to provide specific documents from each list.

Verifying Documents

The employer or authorized representative has three steps that they must complete.

1. They need to verify the authenticity of the employee's documents to the best of their ability.  Both the employee and employer or authorized representative has to be present while the documents are examined.  For example, Skype or FaceTime are not valid ways of examining documents.  If the documents appear to be valid, proceed to the next step.
2. Add the information from the provided documents in Section 2 of the Form I-9, ensuring that the document is entered in the correct column for the document type.  If the provided document does not have information requested in one of the fields in Section 2, such as "Issuing Authority" or "Expiration Date", write in N/A.
3. Complete the fields in the certification section and then sign and date the form.  

Photocopying Documents

The university requires departments to make photocopies of the documents the employee provided for Section 2.  These should be sent to the Payroll Office with the Form I-9.

Receipt Rule:

• If the original document has been lost, stolen, or damaged, a receipt for application of a replacement document can be accepted.  If a receipt for application is used, the employer or authorized representative should write "receipt" in the document # line.  The employee must show the original replacement document within 90 days of hire.  Once the original is received, cross out the word "receipt" and record the document information from the actual document presented by the employee and add the date and your initials next to the changes.
• A receipt is never acceptable for employment lasting less than three days.
• Information about acceptable receipts can be found on the USCIS website.

Questionable Documents:

• Employers can reject documents that don't appear appropriate or genuine.  Employees who present questionable documentation should be asked for other documents to satisfy the I-9 requirements.

Signature:

• Don't forget to sign the I-9.  Staff members of UO departments are considered "the Employer or Authorized Representative".
• For Business or Organization Name, write University of Oregon along with the name of your department.

Social Security Card Issues:

• The Social Security Administration (SSA) issues Social Security numbers and cards to aliens only if they can present documentation of current employment authorization in the US.  Lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees are issued unrestricted Social Security cards that are the same as those issued to US Citizens.
• Some Social Security cards have restrictions on them and do not satisfy the I-9 requirements.  If that is the case, the employee must show other documents to comply with the requirements.  See I-9 Employment Authorization Requirements for more information on other documents that fulfill I-9 requirements for aliens.

Retaining the I-9 Form:

• Employers must keep I-9 forms in their files as long as the person is employed, and for a certain time after the person has left the university.  That time period is determined once an employee has terminated, by calculating two dates.  The retention date is the later of either three years from the hire date or one year after the termination date.

Rehires:

• If an employee is rehired within three years of the original hire date (the date the original I-9 form was completed), the employer does not have to complete a new I-9 form, as long as the employee is still eligible to work on the same basis shown on the original I-9 form.  The employer needs to verify the SSN is the same in section three.  The employee does not need to present their documents again.

Remote Hires:

• See Remote Hires

Examples of the Complete Forms for U.S. Citizens:

Note: for US citizens, expired passports and List B documents are no longer acceptable.  This is a recent change in the law.

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3

Examples of the Complete Forms for International Employees:

Examples