To complete Form I-9, an employee either presents one document from List A, which establishes both identity and work authorization, or pairs one document from List B (identity) with one from List C (work authorization). Those are the three lists of I-9 acceptable documents, and every valid combination is built from them. The employee chooses which documents to present, and the employer must accept any that reasonably appear genuine and relate to the person offering them. Every document has to be unexpired.
List A: One Document Covers Everything
A List A document proves who you are and that you’re authorized to work, all at once. When an employee hands over a valid List A document, the employer cannot ask for anything more.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-9 Acceptable Documents
- U.S. passport or U.S. passport card
- Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551), commonly called a Green Card
- Foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp, or a temporary I-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa
- Employment Authorization Document (Form I-766) that contains a photograph
- Foreign passport with Form I-94 for a nonimmigrant authorized to work for a specific employer, as long as the endorsement period hasn’t expired
- Passport from the Federated States of Micronesia or the Republic of the Marshall Islands with a Form I-94 showing admission under the Compact of Free Association
The Employment Authorization Document deserves a closer look. An EAD past its printed expiration date can still count as unexpired if the holder filed a timely renewal application in a category eligible for an automatic extension. The rules around automatic EAD extensions changed significantly in late 2025, so anyone leaning on a pending renewal should confirm their specific category still qualifies.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Automatic Employment Authorization Document (EAD) Extension
List B: Identity Only
A List B document proves who you are but says nothing about work authorization. It always has to be paired with a List C document. The most common List B item is a state driver’s license.
For anyone age 16 or older, acceptable List B documents include:
- Driver’s license or state-issued ID card with a photograph, or without a photo if it carries identifying information such as name, date of birth, height, eye color, and address
- Government-issued ID card from a federal, state, or local agency, with the same photo or identifying-information requirement
- School ID card with a photograph
- Voter registration card
- U.S. military card or draft record
- Military dependent’s ID card
- U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Card
- Native American tribal document
Workers under 18 who can’t produce any of those may substitute a school record or report card, a clinic or hospital record, or a day-care or nursery school record.5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 13.2 List B Documents That Establish Identity
Native American Tribal Documents
A tribal document can serve as both a List B and a List C document, but only if the employee attests in Section 1 to being a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. If the employee instead selects “alien authorized to work,” the tribal document counts only for identity, and a separate List C document is still required. The tribe must be federally recognized; documents from unrecognized tribes or from Canadian First Nations are not acceptable.6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 7.2 Native Americans
List C: Work Authorization Only
A List C document proves work authorization but not identity, so it always pairs with a List B document. The most familiar is an unrestricted Social Security card.
- Social Security card without any restrictive notation. Cards printed with “NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT,” “VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH INS AUTHORIZATION,” or “VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION” are not acceptable.7U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 13.3 List C Documents That Establish Employment Authorization
- Original or certified birth certificate issued by a state, county, or municipal authority bearing an official seal
- Certification of Birth Abroad issued by the Department of State (Form DS-1350, FS-545, or FS-240)
- Native American tribal document, when the employee attests to being a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident
The Employee Chooses, Not the Employer
This is where employers get themselves in trouble. The employee decides which acceptable documents to present. If someone offers a driver’s license and an unrestricted Social Security card, the employer cannot demand a Green Card or an EAD instead.8U.S. Department of Labor. Citizenship and Immigration Documentation
Asking for specific documents, requiring more documents than the form calls for, or rejecting documents that reasonably appear genuine all count as unfair documentary practices under federal law. Steering a worker toward particular documents based on their appearance, accent, or national origin risks a discrimination charge. Civil penalties for these practices run from $100 to $1,000 per affected individual for a first violation, and climb from there.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1324b – Unfair Immigration-Related Employment Practices
The employer’s job is confirmation, not forensics. Documents have to reasonably appear genuine and relate to the person presenting them. Employers are not expected to be document-fraud experts.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Completing Section 2, Employer Review and Attestation
When Documents Aren’t Ready: Receipts and the Three-Day Rule
The employer has three business days from the employee’s first day of work for pay to complete the document review. Start Monday, the deadline is Thursday. For jobs that last fewer than three days, the review has to be done on day one.11U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification
An employee who can’t produce originals in that window may present a receipt showing they’ve applied to replace a lost, stolen, or damaged document. The receipt is good for 90 days, after which the actual replacement document has to be presented. A receipt for a document that’s expired and being renewed generally does not qualify, and the employee cannot present a second receipt once the 90-day window closes.
Reverification: Which Documents Trigger It, and Which Never Do
If the document establishing work authorization has an expiration date, the employer must reverify before that date using Supplement B of Form I-9. The employee presents a new unexpired document from List A or List C, and the employer records the details and signs.12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Completing Supplement B, Reverification and Rehires
Some documents never trigger reverification, and reverifying them anyway is a recurring compliance mistake:
- U.S. citizens and noncitizen nationals are never reverified.
- Lawful permanent residents who presented a Permanent Resident Card are never reverified, even if the Green Card carries an expiration date on its face. Reverifying a permanent resident can itself lead to a discrimination charge.
- List B identity documents never require reverification, even after they expire.
Reverification is about work authorization running out, not identity documents aging.