I-9 Reverification Requirements, Documents, and Penalties

Form I-9 reverification requirements apply when an employee’s temporary work authorization has an expiration date on file, and you must complete Supplement B of the current Form I-9 no later than the earlier of the date that authorization expires or the date the document itself expires.¹ Miss that deadline and you cannot legally keep the person on payroll. Paperwork violations alone run $288 to $2,861 per affected employee, and continuing to employ someone whose authorization has lapsed can escalate to $28,619 per worker for repeat offenders.²

Which Employees Need Reverification

Reverification applies only to employees whose work authorization is temporary. If the expiration date recorded in Section 1 or Section 2 of the original I-9 will eventually arrive, you need to reverify before that date passes. In practice, this covers most noncitizen employees who presented documents tied to a specific visa or authorization period, such as an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) or an I-94 linked to a nonimmigrant visa.³

The trigger date is the earlier of two: when the employee’s underlying work authorization expires, or when the presented document expires.¹ Some employees may have entered “N/A” in the Section 1 expiration field because their authorization does not expire, such as refugees, asylees, or certain citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or Palau. Those individuals do not need reverification unless they chose to present a Section 2 document with its own expiration, like a Form I-766 EAD.³

Employees You Must Not Reverify

Reverifying the wrong person can produce a federal discrimination complaint, so this list matters as much as the one above. You must never reverify:

U.S. citizens and noncitizen nationals. Their right to work never expires.
Lawful Permanent Residents. Even though the Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551) has a printed expiration, permanent resident status does not expire with the card. Do not ask an LPR to reverify when their Green Card expires.⁴
List B identity documents. A state driver’s license or ID is identity only. Reverification deals with work authorization, not identity.³

Federal law also prohibits “unfair documentary practices” during the I-9 process, and that rule follows you into reverification. You cannot demand a specific document, request more than the form requires, or reject documents that reasonably appear genuine and relate to the person presenting them.⁵ Telling an employee they must bring a new EAD or a new Green Card, rather than any acceptable List A or List C document of their choosing, is a violation. The employee picks what to present; you examine what they bring.

Tracking Dates and Giving Advance Notice

Reverification fails most often because nobody was watching the calendar. Build a tracking system that flags every temporary work authorization expiration recorded on your I-9 forms. Spreadsheets work for small employers; larger organizations typically build alerts into an HRIS or payroll system.

USCIS recommends notifying affected employees at least 90 days before reverification is due.¹ That lead time matters because USCIS renewals can take months. An employee who starts too late may find themselves without an unexpired document on the day reverification is due, and at that point you cannot keep them working.

What the Employee Can Present

For reverification, the employee may present any document from List A (identity and work authorization) or List C (work authorization). Common choices include a renewed EAD, an unrestricted Social Security card, or a foreign passport with an updated I-94.⁶ You examine the original, unexpired document to confirm it reasonably appears genuine.

A restricted Social Security card, one printed with “NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT” or “VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION,” is not acceptable. Reject it and ask for a different List A or List C document.³

Receipts When the Real Document Has Not Arrived

Sometimes the renewal is still in process. In limited situations you can accept a receipt as temporary proof, but the receipt must be presented no later than the date the current authorization expires.⁷

A receipt for a lost, stolen, or damaged document is valid for 90 days from the date the employee’s work authorization expires. By the end of that window, the actual replacement must be produced; you cannot accept a second receipt to extend the period.⁷ Other receipt types, like a refugee admission stamp on an I-94, follow similar 90-day rules but require specific replacement documents. Check the USCIS Handbook for Employers (M-274) for the full list.

Automatic Extensions That Delay Reverification

Several federal rules can extend work authorization beyond the printed expiration. When an extension applies, you do not reverify until the extended date. You do have to document the extension on the I-9. Getting this wrong in either direction is a problem: reverifying too early for someone with a valid extension can be discriminatory, and failing to reverify once the extension runs out is a substantive violation.

The 240-Day Rule for Nonimmigrant Workers

When an employer files Form I-129 to extend a nonimmigrant worker’s stay before the current status expires, the employee can keep working for up to 240 days while USCIS processes the petition, or until USCIS decides, whichever comes first.⁸ This covers H-1B, L-1, and other employer-sponsored categories. Note “240-day Ext.” and the petition filing date in the Additional Information box in Section 2.

EAD Automatic Extensions

Employees who filed a timely EAD renewal before October 27, 2025, may qualify for an automatic extension of up to 540 days beyond the card’s printed expiration while USCIS processes the renewal.⁹ For those employees, record the extended expiration date in Section 2 and note “EAD EXT” in Additional Information.¹⁰

An interim final rule effective October 30, 2025, ended automatic EAD extensions for most renewal applicants who file on or after that date.⁹ Exceptions remain for Temporary Protected Status holders and extensions provided by law or Federal Register notice. In 2026, you may be managing two sets of rules at once: employees whose pre-October 2025 renewals still carry the auto-extension, and employees whose newer applications do not. The 90-day advance notice matters more than ever, because workers who can no longer rely on an automatic extension face real gaps if USCIS processing runs long.

Filling Out Supplement B

Reverification is recorded on Supplement B of Form I-9, formerly known as Section 3. Use the current edition of the form, which as of 2026 carries an edition date of 01/20/25.⁶ If the original I-9 was completed on an older edition, complete Supplement B on the current version and attach it to the original.

In the reverification block, enter the new document’s title, number, and expiration date. If the employee’s legal name has changed since the original form, enter the new name in the New Name fields within the same block, filling in only the part that changed.¹¹ If an employee changed only their last name, enter only the new last name.³

Sign and date Supplement B to certify you examined the new documentation. Keep it with the original Form I-9.

If the Deadline Passes Without a Document

If the expiration date arrives and the employee has not presented an acceptable document or receipt, you cannot continue employing them.³ There is no grace period. This is why the 90-day advance notice matters so much: it gives the employee time to file renewals and follow up with USCIS before the deadline becomes a termination event.

Rehired Employees

When you rehire someone within three years of the date the original Form I-9 was completed, you have a choice: complete an entirely new I-9 or use Supplement B on the existing form. If you use the existing form, check whether the Section 2 documents (or those from a previous reverification) are still unexpired. If they are, record the rehire date in Supplement B, sign it, and you are done. If the authorization or documents have expired, treat it as a reverification: examine a new List A or List C document, record it along with the rehire date, and sign.¹ Do not reverify the List B identity document even on a rehire.

If more than three years have passed since the original I-9, complete a new Form I-9 from scratch, as you would for a brand-new hire.

Penalties for Missing Reverification

I-9 penalties fall into two tiers, and the reverification deadline is the line between them.

Failing to properly complete, retain, or present Form I-9, including failing to reverify on time, is a paperwork violation. As of the July 2025 inflation adjustment, penalties run $288 to $2,861 per affected employee.² ICE sets the final amount based on five factors: business size, good faith, seriousness of the violation, whether unauthorized workers were involved, and history of prior violations.¹²

Knowingly hiring or continuing to employ someone who is not authorized to work carries much higher penalties:²

First offense: $716 to $5,724 per unauthorized worker.
Second offense: $5,724 to $14,308 per unauthorized worker.
Third or subsequent offense: $8,586 to $28,619 per unauthorized worker.

A pattern or practice of knowingly employing unauthorized workers is a federal crime, punishable by fines of up to $3,000 per unauthorized worker and up to six months in prison.¹³ Failing to reverify an employee whose authorization has expired and then continuing to employ them is exactly the fact pattern that can push a paperwork violation into the knowing-employment tier. The reverification calendar is your primary defense against the higher penalty.

1
USCIS. Completing Supplement B, Reverification and Rehires
2
Federal Register. Civil Monetary Penalties Inflation Adjustments for 2025
3
USCIS. Reverifying Employment Authorization for Current Employees
4
USCIS. Lawful Permanent Residents
5
USCIS. Types of Employment Discrimination Prohibited Under the INA
6
USCIS. Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification
7
USCIS. Acceptable Receipts
8
USCIS. Extensions of Stay for Other Nonimmigrant Categories
9
USCIS. Automatic Employment Authorization Document Extension
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USCIS. Automatic Extensions Based on a Timely Filed Application to Renew Employment Authorization
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USCIS. Recording Changes of Name and Other Identity Information for Current Employees
12
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Form I-9 Inspection Under Immigration and Nationality Act 274A
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1324a – Unlawful Employment of Aliens