How to Fill Out I-9 Form Section 2: Deadline, Documents, and Errors

To fill out Section 2 of Form I-9, examine the employee’s original identity and work authorization documents within three business days of their first day of paid work, record the required details for each document, and sign the certification under penalty of perjury. Section 2 is the employer’s portion of the form, and the person completing it is attesting that the documents reasonably appear genuine and relate to the employee standing in front of them. Get any part of that wrong and you expose the business to per-form fines that currently run from $288 to $2,861 for paperwork violations alone.

The Three-Business-Day Deadline

You have three business days after the employee’s first day of employment for pay to complete Section 2. If someone starts on a Monday, Section 2 must be done by Thursday of that week.¹ There is one exception. If you hire the person for fewer than three business days, Section 2 must be completed on their first day of employment.²

Confirm you are using the current form edition before you begin. USCIS requires the edition dated 08/01/2023, which may show an expiration date of either 07/31/2026 or 05/31/2027. Either is acceptable until it expires.³ Using an outdated edition is itself a paperwork violation.

Check Section 1 Before You Start

Section 1 is the employee’s part, and it should already be complete on or before the first day of work. Read it before filling out Section 2. If any field is blank or wrong, the employee, not you, must correct it, and they need to initial and date each correction.¹ Employers who skip this step often end up with mismatched information between the two sections, which is exactly the sort of inconsistency that surfaces during an audit.

Which Documents to Accept

The employee chooses what to present. You cannot request a specific document or ask for more than the form requires. The choices come from three lists printed on the form:

List A: a single document that proves both identity and work authorization. Examples include a U.S. passport, a U.S. passport card, and a Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551).⁴
List B: a document that proves identity only, such as a state driver’s license or ID card with a photograph.
List C: a document that proves work authorization only, such as an unrestricted Social Security card.⁵

The employee presents either one List A document, or one List B document plus one List C document. All documents must be originals and unexpired. Your job is to determine whether they reasonably appear to be genuine and relate to the person handing them to you. You are not expected to be a document fraud expert.

When the Employee Presents a Receipt

In limited situations you can accept a receipt showing the employee has applied for a replacement of a lost, stolen, or damaged document. The receipt is valid for 90 days from the date of hire, after which the actual document must be produced. Receipts cannot be accepted at all for hires lasting fewer than three business days, and you cannot accept a second receipt once the first expires.⁶

Lawful permanent residents have a separate rule. They may present the arrival portion of Form I-94 with a temporary I-551 stamp and photograph in place of a Permanent Resident Card. That receipt is valid until the stamp’s expiration date, or one year after issuance if the stamp has no expiration date.⁶

Recording the Document Information

Start Section 2 by entering the employee’s first day of employment, meaning the first day they work for wages or other pay.⁷ Then fill in the document fields based on what the employee presented. For each document, record four pieces of information:

Document title (for example, “U.S. Passport” or “Driver’s License”).
Issuing authority (the U.S. Department of State for a passport, a specific state DMV for a driver’s license).
Document number.
Expiration date. Write “N/A” if the document has no expiration date.

If the employee presented a List A document, fill only the List A column and leave the List B and C columns blank. If they presented a List B and List C combination, fill those columns and leave List A blank. Entries should be legible; on paper, complete the form in ink.

The Additional Information Field

Section 2 includes an Additional Information field for notations that don’t fit the standard document fields. Common entries:

An E-Verify case number, if you are enrolled in E-Verify.
“EAD EXT” when an employee’s Employment Authorization Document has been automatically extended based on a pending renewal application.⁸
Receipt notations when you accepted a receipt in place of a List A, B, or C document.
A checkbox indicating you used the alternative procedure for remote document examination.⁹

Optional entries like termination dates and form retention dates also go here. Anything unusual about the verification gets documented in this space.

Signing the Certification

After recording the document information, sign and date the certification block. This is a legal attestation under penalty of perjury. By signing you confirm three things: you examined the documents, they reasonably appear genuine and relate to the employee, and to the best of your knowledge the employee is authorized to work in the United States.¹⁰

Enter your name, your title, and your business name and address. The signature date must fall within the three-business-day window, or on the first day of employment for short-term hires. A missing signature or date is one of the most common audit findings and is treated as a paperwork violation.

Having Someone Else Complete Section 2

You do not have to complete Section 2 yourself. You can designate an authorized representative: a personnel officer, a foreman, an outside agent, a notary public, or anyone else acting on your behalf. No formal contract is required.¹¹ The representative performs every step: examining documents, recording information, and signing.

You remain liable for any violations they commit. If your representative accepts documents that clearly don’t match the employee or skips required fields, the penalty is yours.¹²

One point trips people up. If a notary public serves as your authorized representative, they are acting as your agent, not as a notary. They should not use their notary title or apply a notary seal to the form.¹¹ The I-9 is not a notarial act.

Remote Examination for E-Verify Employers

Employers enrolled in E-Verify in good standing may examine documents remotely instead of in person. The DHS-authorized alternative procedure uses a live video interaction rather than a physical face-to-face review.¹³ The steps:

The employee transmits copies of their documents (front and back if two-sided) before the call.
On a live video call, the employee holds up the same documents so you can compare them to the copies and confirm they reasonably appear genuine.
Check the box in the Additional Information field indicating you used the alternative procedure.
Keep clear, legible copies of the documents in case of a government audit.¹⁴

If you offer remote examination at an E-Verify hiring site, you must offer it to every employee at that site. You can limit it to remote hires while requiring physical examination for onsite workers, but you cannot pick and choose in a way that treats people differently based on citizenship, immigration status, or national origin.¹³

What You Cannot Do During Verification

Federal law prohibits unfair documentary practices during the I-9 process, and well-intentioned employers cross the line more often than you might expect. Three actions are off-limits:

Requesting specific documents. You cannot tell an employee to bring a passport, a green card, or any particular document. The employee chooses from the Lists of Acceptable Documents.⁹
Requesting more documents than required. If someone presents a valid List A document, you cannot ask for a List B or C document as a precaution.
Rejecting genuine-looking documents. If a document reasonably appears genuine and relates to the person, you must accept it. Refusing because it has a future expiration date, or because the employee “looks foreign,” violates the law.¹⁵

The safest practice is to hand the employee the list, let them decide, and accept what they bring so long as it looks real.

Fixing Mistakes in Section 2

Only the employer or authorized representative can correct Section 2.¹⁶ For minor errors, like a wrong document number or a misspelled issuing authority:

Draw a single line through the incorrect information without obscuring it.
Write the correct information nearby.
Initial and date the correction.
Attach a written explanation of what was wrong and why.

Never use correction fluid, erasers, or any method that hides the original entry. Auditors want to see the change history. If you discover the Section 2 date is missing, enter today’s date rather than backdating, and initial next to it. When a section has multiple errors or was completed using unacceptable documents, redo it entirely on a new Form I-9, attach the new form to the original, and include a written explanation.¹⁶

After Section 2: What Comes Next

Section 2 is not always the end of the file. If the employee’s work authorization has an expiration date, you must reverify their eligibility before that date on Supplement B (formerly Section 3). The deadline is whichever comes first: the work authorization expiration in Section 1 or the document expiration you recorded in Section 2. USCIS recommends reminding the employee at least 90 days ahead. You do not reverify U.S. citizens, noncitizen nationals, or lawful permanent residents who presented a Permanent Resident Card.¹⁷

Once complete, keep the form for three years after the date of hire, or one year after employment ends, whichever is later.²

What Section 2 Errors Cost

Paperwork violations, which include incomplete forms, late completion, missing signatures, and similar technical errors, currently run from $288 to $2,861 per affected employee for penalties assessed after July 3, 2025.¹⁸ Fines apply per employee and per form, so a company with 50 incomplete I-9s faces exposure that adds up quickly. Employers who commit document abuse or discriminate during verification face additional penalties, including court-ordered back pay and potential debarment from government contracts.¹⁵ Penalty amounts adjust annually, so check the Federal Register for current figures if you are reading this after mid-2026.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Extends Form I-9 Expiration Date
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. List A Documents
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-9 Acceptable Documents
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Receipts
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Completing Section 2
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Automatic Extensions
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-9
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Who Must Complete Form I-9
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Completing Section 2
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Remote Document Examination
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Remote Examination of Documents
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Penalties
16
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Correcting Errors
17
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Completing Supplement B
18
Federal Register. Civil Monetary Penalties Inflation Adjustments for 2025