The I-9 Form sets forth a list of acceptable documents that an employee can use to verify their identity and employment eligibility, and employees are entitled to select which documents from the list they wish to present. The acceptable documents are broken up into Lists A, B and C, and there are different requirements for the number and kind of documents that are considered sufficient to verify identity and eligibility. Employees must submit either one document from List A, or one document from both Lists B and C. For more information on completing the I-9 Form, please see the accompanying article “Employment & Clubs: Completing the I-9 Form.”
List A
Documents on List A are considered sufficient to verify both identity and employment authorization. Employees submitting a document from List A should not be asked to provide any additional documentation. According to the I-9 Form, List A documents consist of the following:
- U.S. Passport or U.S. Passport Card
- Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card (Form I-551)
- Foreign passport that contains a temporary I-551 stamp or temporary I-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa (MRIV) (subject to re-verification when it expires, to re-verify that the employee is still authorized to work.)
- Employment Authorization Document (Card) containing a photograph (Form I-766)
- Foreign passport with Form I-94 or Form I-94A, Arrival/Departure Report bearing the same name as the passport and containing an endorsement of the alien’s nonimmigrant status that authorizes such alien to work for a specific employer incident to this status (may only be used if the period of endorsement has not yet expired and the proposed employment does not conflict with any restrictions or limitations listed on Form I-94 or I-94A, Arrival/Departure Report; some individuals who present this List A document, such as certain nonimmigrant students and exchange visitors, must also present additional documentation in order to prove work authorization)
- Passport from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) or the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) with Form I-94 or Form I-94A showing nonimmigrant admission under the Compact of Free Association Between the United States and the FSM or RMI
- Foreign passport with special documents issued by the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)
List B
Employees who instead chose to present a document from List B must also present a document from List C, since the List B documents only verify an employee’s identity. List B documents consist of:
- Driver’s license or identification (ID) card issued by a state or outlying possession of the United States, provided it contains a photograph or information such as name, date of birth, gender, height, eye color and address
- ID card issued by federal, state or local government agencies or entities, provided it contains a photograph or information such as name, date of birth, gender, height, eye color and address
- School ID card with a photograph
- Voter’s registration card
- U.S. military card or draft record
- Military dependent’s ID card
- U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariners Document (MMD) Card
- Native American tribal document
- Driver’s license issued by a Canadian government authority
If an employee is under 18, they may also submit the following as acceptable documents from List B:
- School record or report card
- Clinic, doctor or hospital record
- Day-care or nursery school record
List C
One document from List C must be presented in conjunction with a document from List B (and vice versa), as List C documents only demonstrate employment authorization. List C documents consist of:
- U.S. Social Security account number card that is unrestricted. A card that includes any of the following restrictive wording is not an acceptable List C document:
- NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT
- VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH INS AUTHORIZATION
- VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION
- Certification of Birth Abroad issued by the U.S. Department of State (Form FS-545)
- Certification of Report of Birth issued by the U.S. Department of State (Form DS-1350)
- Original or certified copy of a birth certificate issued by a state, county, municipal authority or outlying possession of the United States bearing an official seal
- Native American tribal document
- U.S. Citizen ID Card (Form I-197)
- Identification Card for Use of Resident Citizen in the United States (Form I-179)
- Employment authorization document issued by DHS. Some employment authorization documents issued by DHS include but are not limited to the Form I-94 issued to an asylee or work-authorized nonimmigrant (e.g., H-1B nonimmigrants) because of their immigration status, the unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327), the Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561), or the Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570). Form I-797 issued to a conditional resident may be an acceptable List C(8) document in combination with his or her expired Form I-551 (“green card”).
For more information and visual samples of acceptable documents from all lists, please visit I-9 Central.
Source: www.uscis.gov/I-9central