b'Form I-9Employee Eligibility VerificationWho, What, Why . . . Who does it apply to: All business owners hiring employees to How do I fill out Section 2: Within three business days ofwork within the United States. the first day of work, the employee must present original documentsfoundontheListsof AcceptableDocuments What is an I-9 Form: Hopefully, you are familiar with the I-9at the end ofthe I-9 Form. The employee must be sure Form. All employers are required to complete one for all newthe documents you accept are not expired. You then fill out employeesbytheDepartmentofHomelandSecurityandSection 2 of the I-9 Form and retain it. Do not specify to theU.S.CitizenshipandImmigrationServices(USCIS).Itsyour new employees which documents they provide or ask purpose is to help employers determine whether applicants arefor different or additional documents or comment on their authorized to work in the United States. Of course, it is alsochoices.used by USCIS to make sure employers dont hire workers who How do I fill out Section 3: Employers may choose to completeare unauthorized to work in the United States. Section 3 if rehiring an employee within three years of prior separation. Employers are not required to use Section 3 for How do I properly complete the form:a rehire and may fill out a new I-9 Form.How does the form work: An I-9 Form requires both the completion of basic citizenship information and verification ofHow do I know the documents are real . . . or should I care: identification proving the right to work. There are three partsEmployers are required to accept documents that reasonably or sections to the document. Section 1 is information aboutappeartobegenuine.Thisgetsintostickyterritoryfor the employee. Section 2 is the verification of documents foremployers.After all, you are not an expert on documents. If you employers. Section 3 can be used if an employee is rehiredcomplain that documents are not real when they are or appear within three years of separation. to be, you can get in trouble for discrimination. If you acceptWhen to fill it out:An I-9 Form must be completed for everydocuments as real when they are not, you again make a mistakenew employee hired after November 6, 1986. Prepare theand get in trouble with USCIS.My advice? Print yourself a copy form before the employee begins work on their first day byof the illustrations of acceptable documents from Part 8 of the completing Section 1. Then, be sure the employee meetsUSCIS Handbook for Employers. Unless the documents appear the requirements of Section 2 within three business days ofpatently false, accept them. If you make copies for examination the first day of work. Never complete the form before theby the human resources office at hire, dont keep the copies. If prospective employee is offered employment and acceptsyou keep them, USCIS can examine what you looked at and the job. Doing so earlier creates a possible discriminationdecide for you. claim if the person is not hired.How do I fill out Section 1:Employers do not fill out Section 1. What if I get contradictory documents: If the employee correctly It is to be completed by the new employee before beginningfollows the List of Acceptable Documents, you should not get work on their first day. The employee must complete theircontradictory documents. Sometimes, however, an employee fullname,address,dateofbirth,attesttocitizenshiporwill bring in what appears to be a valid non-immigrant alien immigration status, and sign and date the form. Employersdocument from List A and a social security card or U.S. Citizen ID dohaveresponsibilitytomakesuretheemployeehascard. If the person only presented the non-immigrant documents, completed all of Section 1 with information that conforms toyou would be fine, but we all know it would be difficult to have the questions asked in Section 1, e.g., putting an address ina social security card and a non-immigrant status at the same the address box.time. In this situation, you have a judgment call to make. You 19'