Completing Section 1, Employee Information and Attestation

When completing Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, you, as the employer, must make the complete instructions to the form and the Lists of Acceptable Documents available to newly hired employees.

Your employees must complete and sign Section 1 of Form I-9 no later than their first day of employment (the actual commencement of employment of an employee for wages or other remuneration, referred to as date of hire in the Department of Homeland Security regulations), but may complete Section 1 any time after they accept the job offer. Preparers and translators can help employees complete Section 1.

Note: You may review the employee’s document(s) and fully complete Section 2 at any time between the date the employee accepts the job offer and completes Section 1 to within three business days of the hire.

Employee Responsibilities for Section 1

• Full legal name;
  • Employees with two last names (family names) should enter both names. Employees with two first names (given names) should enter both names.
  • Employees with only one name should enter it in the Last Name field, then enter “Unknown” in the First Name field.
  • Employees should include the hyphen (-) or apostrophe (’) if their names have them.
  • Employees with a middle name should enter the middle initial.
• Other legal last names used, including a maiden name, if applicable.
• Current address, including street name and number city, state and ZIP code. Include the apartment number or letter if applicable;
• Date of birth;
• Citizenship or immigration status, by checking the appropriate box to indicate whether they are a U.S. citizen, a noncitizen national, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., or a noncitizen authorized to work in the U.S.;
• If applicable, A-Number/USCIS Number, Form I-94 admission number, or foreign passport number (including country of issuance), and the date employment authorization expires; and
• Signature and the date.

Optional Employee Entries for Section 1:

• Social Security number (Exception: Employees must provide their Social Security number if you participate in E-Verify);
• E-mail address (employees may receive email notifications from USCIS if you participate in E-Verify); and
• Telephone number.

Employees must sign the form even if a preparer or translator helps them. Each preparer or translator who helps your employee must provide their name and address and must sign and date a separate certification block on Supplement A, Preparer and/or Translator Certification for Section 1.

You must retain completed supplement pages with the employee’s completed Form I-9.

The date your employee enters next to their signature should match the date the preparer/translator signed the supplement.

Employer Responsibilities for Section 1

You must review the information your employees provided to ensure:

• They completed all required fields;
• They provided their Social Security numbers if you participate in E-Verify. (If you do not participate in E-Verify, employees are not required to enter their Social Security number.);
• They signed and dated their forms; and the preparer or translator completed, signed, and dated a certification block on Supplement A and/or Translator Certification for Section 1 if the employee used a preparer or translator.

You should also:

• Check whether your employees indicated in Section 1 that their employment authorization will expire.
  • You may need to reverify your employee’s employment authorization when it expires. You may remind them at least 90 days before the expiration date that they will need to present a List A or List C document to show continued employment authorization for reverification purposes. They must present these documents on or before the date their current employment authorization expires.
• Check whether the expiration date for employment authorization your employee provided in Section 1 matches the expiration date of the List A or List C document they presented for Section 2, Employer Review and Attestation. Use the earlier date for reverification purposes.