Form I-9 overview

Form I-9, officially known as the Employment Eligibility Verification form, is a federal requirement issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). As an employer, you must use it to verify the identity and employment authorization of every individual you hire to work in the United States. You’re required to complete and retain a Form I-9 for each employee hired on or after November 6, 1986. Although the form is federally mandated, some states impose additional requirements related to employment eligibility verification—such as participation in the federal E-Verify program.

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Form breakdown

Form I-9 includes five main components, as outlined in Section 1.0 of the USCIS Handbook for Employers M-274. Symmetry I-9 supports all five, so you can complete and manage the entire form inside your platform:

1. Section 1 — Employee Information and Attestation
   • The employee must complete and sign this section on or before their first day of work. It captures basic personal details and their attestation of authorization to work in the United States.
   • In Symmetry I-9: the employee completes Section 1 in the guided employee experience.
2. Section 2 — Employer Review and Verification
   • The employer—or an authorized representative—must complete this section within three business days of the employee’s start date. It involves reviewing original documents to confirm the employee’s identity and work authorization.
   • In Symmetry I-9: administrators review and verify documents in the administrative experience, including remote verification.
3. Lists of Acceptable Documents
   • You must make this list available to all employees completing Form I-9. You’re not required to retain this page with the form.
   • In Symmetry I-9: the acceptable documents are presented to the employee in-flow as they complete Section 1.
4. Supplement A — Preparer and/or Translator Certification for Section 1
   • Required when someone assists the employee in completing Section 1. If no assistance is needed, you don’t need to print or retain this page.
   • In Symmetry I-9: see Supplement A Overview.
5. Supplement B — Reverification and Rehire (formerly Section 3)
   • Complete this supplement to reverify an employee’s work authorization or to rehire them without completing a new Form I-9.
   • In Symmetry I-9: see Supplement B Overview.

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Form submission and retention

Form I-9 is not submitted to any government agency. Instead, employers are responsible for retaining each completed Form I-9. Symmetry returns completed Forms I-9 in an encoded ZIP file in the postback—see Receive Completed I-9 Data. You’re required to keep these forms on file for a specific period based on the employee’s hire and termination dates, and you are responsible for storing them. See Retention for the M-274 retention rules. This retention requirement ensures your Forms I-9 are available for inspection by authorized government officials—such as representatives from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or the Department of Labor (DOL)—in the event of an audit or investigation. See Audit Trail for how Symmetry records I-9 activity.