Do U.S. Citizens Need Work Authorization? Form I-9 and E-Verify

U.S. citizens do not need to apply for work authorization. Your citizenship is itself proof that you can work in the United States, so there is no application to file, no fee to pay, and no card to wait for. The only paperwork involved is Form I-9, which every new hire completes with their employer to document identity and work eligibility that already exist.¹

The Employment Authorization Document (Form I-765, often called an EAD) exists for people who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents and need to prove they may work here.¹ If you were born in the United States, born abroad to U.S. citizen parents, or naturalized, that process is not for you. You will never be asked to produce an EAD, and no employer can require one from you.

What You Actually Have to Do: Form I-9

Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, is the one immigration-related form a citizen encounters when starting a job. It does not grant you the right to work. It documents it.²

You complete Section 1 no later than your first day of work, but not before you have accepted a job offer.³ Section 1 asks for your legal name, address, date of birth, and Social Security number, and includes a box to check confirming you are a U.S. citizen.

Within three business days of your start date, you present original documents to your employer. Federal regulations require the employer to physically examine those originals and confirm they reasonably appear genuine and relate to you.⁴ The employer then fills in Section 2, recording each document’s title, issuing authority, document number, and expiration date, and signs the form under penalty of perjury.⁵

The completed form stays in your employer’s files for three years after the date of hire or one year after your employment ends, whichever is later.⁶

Which Documents You Can Present

USCIS groups acceptable documents into three lists. You choose whether to present one document from List A, which covers both identity and work eligibility, or one document from List B plus one from List C.³

List A: a U.S. passport or U.S. passport card. A single List A document is enough on its own.²
List B: a state-issued driver’s license or government photo ID. Proves identity but not work eligibility.²
List C: an unrestricted Social Security card, or an original birth certificate issued by a state, county, or municipal authority. Proves work eligibility but not identity on its own.²

A common pairing for citizens without a passport is a driver’s license with a birth certificate or unrestricted Social Security card. The choice is yours.⁷

If a document was lost, stolen, or damaged, you can present a receipt showing you have applied for a replacement. The receipt is valid for 90 days from your hire date, and the actual replacement must arrive before that window closes. Receipts are not available if your job will last fewer than three days.⁸

What Your Employer Cannot Do

Federal law protects you during hiring and verification. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1324b, an employer cannot discriminate against you in hiring, firing, or recruiting because of your national origin or citizenship status, and that protection applies to citizens just as it does to others.⁹

The most common workplace overreach involves documents. Your employer cannot demand a specific document, such as a U.S. passport, when other acceptable documents from the lists would satisfy the requirement.⁷ They cannot ask for more documents than the I-9 requires, and they cannot reject documents that reasonably appear genuine.¹⁰ These practices violate federal law even when the employer says it is being cautious.

Retaliation is also prohibited. An employer cannot punish you for reporting discriminatory practices, filing a complaint, or cooperating with an investigation.⁹

One boundary to know on your side: falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen to gain employment is a federal crime carrying up to five years in prison.¹¹ If you are a citizen, this is not a concern; if your status is unsettled, do not check the citizen box on Form I-9.

E-Verify: What It Means for Citizens

E-Verify is a web-based system that cross-checks your I-9 information against federal databases. Not every employer uses it. Participation is required for federal contractors and in a growing number of states, and where an employer does participate, E-Verify runs on all new hires, citizens included. Selective use is not allowed.¹²

At an E-Verify employer, providing your Social Security number in Section 1 is mandatory. At employers not using E-Verify, it is optional.¹²

If E-Verify Returns a Mismatch

Sometimes E-Verify returns a Tentative Nonconfirmation, or mismatch, even for citizens. Common causes are typos in your name, date of birth, or Social Security number, or an outdated record in a government database. A mismatch does not mean you are fired. Your employer cannot terminate you, suspend you, withhold pay, or take any other negative action while the case is pending.¹³

You have 10 federal government working days from the date E-Verify issued the mismatch to decide whether to contest it and to tell your employer your decision. If you contest, your employer refers the case to the Department of Homeland Security or the Social Security Administration, and you follow up by submitting documents through myE-Verify or by visiting your local Social Security office. If you choose not to contest, the employer may end your employment.¹³

If you are worried about someone using your Social Security number to work under your identity, the myE-Verify Self Lock feature lets you lock your number in the system. While locked, any employer who runs your number through E-Verify will receive an automatic mismatch. Unlock it before starting a new job with an E-Verify employer, or you will trigger a mismatch on your own case.¹⁴

If an Employer Gets It Wrong

If an employer refuses your valid documents, insists on a passport when you have chosen List B and List C documents, or treats you differently because of your national origin or citizenship status, you can file a charge with the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) of the U.S. Department of Justice. IER handles citizenship status discrimination, national origin discrimination, unfair document practices during the I-9 process, and retaliation.¹⁵

The IER Worker Hotline is 1-800-255-7688 (TTY: 711).¹⁵ Calling is free, and the office can walk you through whether what happened qualifies as a violation before you file anything formal.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment Authorization
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-9 Acceptable Documents
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification
4
eCFR. 8 CFR 274a.2 – Verification of Identity and Employment Authorization
5
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Form I-9 Inspection Under Immigration and Nationality Act 274A
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 US Code 1324a – Unlawful Employment of Aliens
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employee Rights
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Receipts
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1324b – Unfair Immigration-Related Employment Practices
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Penalties
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 1015 – Naturalization, Citizenship or Alien Registry
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. E-Verify – The Web-Based Verification Companion to Form I-9
13
E-Verify. How to Process a Tentative Nonconfirmation (Mismatch)
14
E-Verify. Self Lock
15
U.S. Department of Justice. Immigrant and Employee Rights Section