Form I-9 is issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and is used to confirm that every new employee hired in the United States is who they say they are and is legally permitted to work. Both the employee and the employer have sections to complete. The form applies to all new hires regardless of citizenship status, and completed forms must be kept on file by the employer and made available to authorized government officials upon request.

Form I-9 serves two connected purposes in the employment process:

The employee completes and signs Section 1, which covers personal information and attestation of work authorization. The employer — or an authorized representative — reviews the employee's identity and work authorization documents and completes Section 2. Section 3 or Supplement B is used for reverification or when rehiring a former employee.

Not every worker is required to complete Form I-9. Independent contractors and workers supplied through a staffing or temp agency are generally exempt, as is the agency's responsibility to verify them.

People doing occasional domestic work in a private home on an irregular, sporadic basis are also not required to complete the form. Employees who were hired before November 6, 1986, and have remained in continuous employment with reasonable expectation of ongoing work are similarly exempt.

Employees must complete and sign Section 1 no later than their first day of work. The employer must complete Section 2 within three business days of the employee's first day of employment.

Employers are required to retain completed I-9 forms for the duration specified by federal guidelines — generally three years from the hire date or one year after employment ends, whichever comes later. Forms must be produced for inspection upon request from an authorized government representative.

You can access a ready-to-fill I-9 template directly on our platform. Open it in our editor, complete the relevant fields, and download the finished form. Note that our platform helps you prepare and download the form — the completed I-9 must be handled according to official USCIS requirements and is not submitted through our site.

Employees do not file Form I-9 with any government agency — they complete their section and hand it to their employer. The employer is responsible for retaining the form on file for the required period and presenting it to authorised officials when asked.

Employers must verify that all sections are filled in correctly, store the form securely for the required retention period, and provide it to authorised agencies upon request.