I-9 List A Documents: Six Options, Validity, and Reverification

On Form I-9, List A documents are the six items that prove both your identity and your authorization to work in the United States at the same time. If you present any one of them, you’re done with the document portion of the form. The alternative is showing one document from List B, which proves identity, together with one from List C, which proves work authorization.¹

The Six Documents That Qualify

Federal law recognizes exactly six categories. Nothing else counts as List A, and if what you have isn’t here, you’ll need the List B plus List C combination instead.²

A U.S. passport or U.S. passport card. Either the full book or the wallet-sized card works.
A Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551), commonly called a Green Card. USCIS has redesigned the card over the years, but older versions remain valid through the expiration date printed on them.
A foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp, or a foreign passport with an I-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa. This applies to lawful permanent residents who carry temporary evidence of their status, and it’s subject to reverification when it expires.
An Employment Authorization Document with a photograph (Form I-766). Like the Green Card, previous designs stay valid through their printed expiration date.
A foreign passport paired with a Form I-94 that contains an endorsement to work. The passport and the I-94 must show the same name, and the endorsement period cannot have expired.
A passport from the Federated States of Micronesia or the Republic of the Marshall Islands, paired with a Form I-94 showing admission under the Compact of Free Association.

What Makes a List A Document Valid

Being on the list isn’t the whole test. When you hand the document over, it has to meet three conditions.³

It must be unexpired. An employer also shouldn’t reject a document just because the expiration date is coming up soon; the question is whether it’s expired now.

It must be the original. Photocopies, scans, and digital images don’t count. Your employer looks at it, records the information, and returns it to you. They cannot keep the original.

It must reasonably appear genuine and relate to you. Your employer isn’t expected to be a forensic examiner, but a photo that clearly isn’t you or obvious signs of tampering are grounds for rejection.

You Choose Which Document to Present

This is where employers most often go wrong, and it’s worth knowing your ground. You pick the acceptable document or documents you want to show. Your employer cannot demand a U.S. passport specifically, refuse a valid Green Card because they’d rather see a passport, or ask for extra documents beyond what the form requires.⁴

Requesting more or different documents than the form requires, or rejecting documents that reasonably appear genuine, can be an unfair immigration-related employment practice under federal law. The same statute protects you from discrimination based on citizenship status or national origin during hiring. If an employer insists on a U.S. passport from someone who looks or sounds foreign while accepting a driver’s license and Social Security card from others, that’s the conduct the law targets.⁵

If Your Document Is Lost, Stolen, or Damaged

You still have an option. If you’ve applied for a replacement of a lost, stolen, or damaged List A document but haven’t received it yet, you can present the receipt for the replacement application. That receipt is valid for 90 days from your hire date. Once those 90 days pass, you must present the actual replacement, and your employer cannot accept a second receipt to buy more time.⁶

Your employer records the receipt on the I-9 by writing “Receipt” followed by the document title. When you bring in the actual replacement, they cross out “Receipt,” enter the new document’s information in the Additional Information field, and initial and date the change.⁶

Refugees

Refugees have their own receipt option. The departure portion of Form I-94 with an unexpired refugee admission stamp, or with an admission class of “RE,” counts as a List A receipt for 90 days. After that, the refugee must present either an EAD or a List B document together with a List C document.⁷

Automatic Extensions of an EAD

If you hold an Employment Authorization Document and you filed a timely renewal application before it expired, your work authorization may be automatically extended for up to 540 days past the card’s expiration date, or until USCIS decides on your renewal, whichever comes first.⁸

To show this extended authorization, you present your expired EAD together with the Form I-797C receipt notice for your pending renewal. The eligibility category on your EAD must match the category on the I-797C, with limited exceptions for Temporary Protected Status holders. Not every EAD category qualifies. Eligible categories include A03, A05, A07, A08, A10, A12, A17, A18, C08, C09, C10, C16, C19, C20, C22, C24, C26, and C31.⁸

Reverification When a List A Document Expires

Some List A documents expire, including U.S. passports and Green Cards. When the work authorization tied to your document has an expiration date, your employer must reverify before that date passes. You present a current document from List A or List C showing ongoing work authorization, and the employer records the new information on Supplement B of the Form I-9.⁹

One distinction matters here. Reverification applies to work authorization, not identity. An expired driver’s license doesn’t trigger it. An expired EAD or a foreign passport with an I-94 work endorsement does.

Remote Verification for New Hires

Employers that participate in E-Verify in good standing can examine your documents remotely instead of in person. This matters most for remote hires.¹⁰

The process works like this. You transmit copies of your documents, front and back, to the employer. You then join a live video call and hold up the same documents. The employer examines the copies and confirms on video that the documents appear genuine and match you. The employer retains clear copies of what you sent for the entire period you work there, plus the required retention period after you leave.¹⁰

If an employer offers remote verification at a location, they have to offer it consistently to everyone at that site. They can limit it to remote hires while examining on-site workers in person, but they cannot apply the option selectively based on citizenship, immigration status, or national origin.¹⁰

Employers who don’t participate in E-Verify must examine documents in person. If you work remotely for one of those employers, your employer can designate an authorized representative, meaning any adult willing to do it, including a notary public or a family member, to physically examine your documents and complete Section 2 on the employer’s behalf.³

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1324a – Unlawful Employment of Aliens
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-9 Acceptable Documents
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Completing Section 2, Employer Review and Attestation
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1324b – Unfair Immigration-Related Employment Practices
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Handbook for Employers M-274 – 4.4 Acceptable Receipts
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Handbook for Employers M-274 – 7.3 Refugees and Asylees
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Handbook for Employers M-274 – 5.1 Automatic Extensions Based on a Timely Filed Application to Renew Employment Authorization
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Handbook for Employers M-274 – 6.1 Reverifying Employment Authorization for Current Employees
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Remote Examination of Documents