The Form I-9 is a mandatory employment eligibility verification form. Completion of the I-9 by both employer and employee must occur within three days of hire for every employee hired after November 7, 1986, regardless of nationality or immigration status. I-9 violations can occur even if your workforce is legal. A paperwork violation can be something as simple as failing to date or sign the Form I-9. Fines can range from $110 to $1,100 per paperwork violation, but increase exponentially for knowing violations. For instance, employers convicted of having knowingly hired unauthorized aliens or continuing to employ aliens who are or became unauthorized to work in the United States may face fines of up to $3,000 per employee and/or six months imprisonment. The following rules should assist your organization in being I-9 compliant.

• I-9s cannot be used to screen job applicants. They can only be used to confirm employment eligibility after hiring.
• If you are copying blank I-9 forms for completion, both sides must be copied or the I-9 is incomplete, potentially resulting in a fine. This means that the List of Acceptable Documents on the back of the Form I-9 is part of a complete I-9.
• Any changes to an existing I-9 must be done by striking through, correcting and having you as employer and the employee initial those changes as relevant.
• If a Form I-9 is incomplete or needs correcting, you also have the option of using an updated Form and attaching it to the old I-9.
• Are you using a current Form I-9? Below is a chart of which Form I-9 should be used:

If hired on or after	Use Form
July 5, 2007	June 5, 2007
March 3, 2009	February 2, 2009
September 7, 2009	August 7, 2009 but the February 2, 2009 edition is also accepted

• You do not need to maintain copies of the documentation showing identity and employment eligibility that is presented as part of the I-9 process. But if you do, you must do so for all employees or risk being liable for document abuse.
• Employee name changes require completion of either Section 3 or a new Form I-9, but changes of address do not.
• Any document used to indicate employment authorization with an expiration date needs to be followed up on by completing Section 3 of the I-9 or by doing a new I-9. All I-9s with expiring documentation should be pulled and placed in a separate binder with a notification system for you as employer to notify the employee between four to six months of expiration to obtain new proof of employment eligibility and present it to you.
• Do you know the I-9 retention rules and does your organization have a written policy? You should! The retention rules are three years from date of hire or one year after termination, whichever is longer. We would be happy to assist in the development of a policy that should include annual internal I-9 audits.
• If your organization acquires a business and its employees, you can use the previous owners’ I-9’s but you are responsible for any mistakes in them.
• If you use subcontractors or independent contractors, you are not responsible for their employees’ I-9s working on your premises unless you have reason to know they are not employment authorized. In March, 2005, Walmart agreed to settle on a fine of $11 million for trying to circumvent I-9 compliance by using a subcontractor who hired workers lacking employment authorization to clean its stores.
• If you use an outside I-9 management and storage contractor, be certain to confirm that your contractor is able to retrieve and make the information requested by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) notice of inspection available in its required time frame of 72 business hours.

The best way to be prepared for an ICE inspection is to have conducted your own internal audit to make certain your I-9s are compliant. Be sure you have clear, consistent I-9 compliance, review and retention policies in place, including the discard of I-9s that no longer need to be retained.