Form I-9 is a document that every employee and employer has either filled out or filed at some point in their professional career. The I-9 is a document and thus needs to be filed correctly to maintain compliance, and the overall safety of all employees. Once filed this documentation needs to be stored in a safe, reliable, and accessible location. Read here to learn how you can store your I-9 documentation correctly and remain compliant.
Form I-9 is an official U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) document that helps a company verify that its employees are legally permitted to work in the United States. This form must be completed by both employers and employees. The document requires specific forms of identification. Either one document from List A, or one document from both List B and List C. These can include:
Once filed, the forms must be maintained for at least 3 years following the hire date or 1 year following the departure of the employee, whichever comes last. The basic prerequisite for completing the I-9 is to verify that an employee is one of:
As of May 1, 2020 a new I-9 Form has been issued along with an updated version of the USCIS handbook. This has offered further clarity involving more complex situations, such as the status of foreign workers, or those serving as an authorized representative tasked with completing the Form for an employer.
When completing this form you are required to collect personal information regarding your employees. For this reason it is crucial that you retain Form I-9 documentation and store it correctly.
All I-9 information needs to be stored safely and securely, however it needs to be accessible as there are several entities who may request said forms. The forms may be inspected by officers of the Department of Homeland Security, employees from the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) at the Department of Justice, as well as employees at the Department of Labor upon request.
It is recommended that employers store the I-9 either on site or at a secure off-site storage facility. Wherever the documents are to be stored, they need to be accessible. If government officials do request access, then the documents must be able to be presented within 3 days.
According to the USCIS, I-9 Documentation may be stored in a few different formats. These formats include paper, microfilm or microfiche, and electronic documentation. Each of these formats requires that specific measures be taken in order to securely store said documents.
The USCIS recommends that all From I-9 files should be maintained separately from other personal documentation. Separate storage often offers an extra level of security. Additionally, separate storage can add an extra safeguard against a potential audit, which is conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE conducts in-person verification audits according to deadlines that are updated each year.
Employers who do not meet or outright ignore specific procedures involving the storage and maintenance of Form I-9 documentation, may in fact risk facing penalties. If protected information is exposed to unauthorized individuals and then utilized as a means of discrimination the victim has the legal right to sue their employer.
Likewise, the most present risk of litigation relates to how HR stores these documents and where they're stored. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of national origin or citizenship status—information contained in every Form I-9.