Getting hired: Form I-9, E-Verify and what an employer may ask

The order is the same everywhere: a job offer, your part of the form, your documents, the employer's check.

1. Wait for a job offer

   IER says asking for work papers, such as your Employment Authorization Document (EAD), before a job offer can be discrimination. If an employer asks earlier, you can contact IER for free and anonymously.

2. Fill out Section 1 of Form I-9

   You can fill it out any time after you accept the job, but no later than your first day. Give your full legal name, other last names you used (if any), address and date of birth, mark your status and, where it applies, your A-Number (the number starting with A on your immigration papers), your Form I-94 admission number (the arrival record) or foreign passport number, and the date your work permission expires. Then sign. If you have only one name, enter it in the last name field and write Unknown in the first name field.

3. Ask for help with English if you need it

   An interpreter or someone helping you fill out the form (a preparer) can assist. They write their name and address and sign a separate block, Supplement A, but you sign the form yourself.

4. Choose your documents for Section 2

   You show original, unexpired documents. One document from List A (proves both identity and permission to work, for example an EAD) is enough, or two: one from List B (identity) and one from List C (permission to work). You choose; the employer may not tell you which document to show. A List B ID card from a federal, state or local agency counts if it has a photo or shows your name, date of birth, sex, height, eye color and address. Sometimes a receipt for a replacement document is accepted instead.

5. The employer completes Section 2

   The employer must examine your documents and sign Section 2 within 3 business days after your first paid day: if you started on Monday, the deadline is Thursday. The employer looks at documents in person; remote checks are allowed only for companies that use E-Verify.

6. Watch your EAD expiration date

   The employer may remind you at least 90 days before your work permission expires, and you must show a new document on or before the day the old one expires. A pending renewal no longer extends an expired EAD.

For newcomers the EAD is the most common choice: it alone replaces two documents. Some people have other options.

• If you have been granted asylum

  Granted asylumFree

  In Section 1, mark “A noncitizen authorized to work” and write “N/A” in the expiration date field: your permission to work does not expire. If HR does not recognize your document (for example the Form I-94 issued to people granted asylum), they can ask IER.

  justice.gov

E-Verify compares your Form I-9 information with federal government records. Not every employer uses it; those that do need your Social Security number.

1. The employer tells you the result in private

   If the information does not match, the system returns a Tentative Nonconfirmation, or “mismatch.” It gives you a chance to sort things out. The employer must tell you in private and give you a Further Action Notice.

2. Decide whether you will contest it

   On the Further Action Notice you mark your decision and sign. The employer must give you a copy in English and print a Referral Date Confirmation, the date your deadline counts from. If English is not your first language and you find it hard to read, E-Verify's rules tell the employer to also give you a translated notice: ask for a copy in Russian. Tell the employer your decision no later than the 10th federal working day (a weekday that is not a federal holiday) after the result.

3. Contact the Department of Homeland Security or the Social Security Administration within 8 working days

   If you contest, you have 8 federal working days from the date on the Referral Date Confirmation to contact the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the Social Security Administration (SSA), depending on whose records did not match. E-Verify then reports the outcome to the employer.

4. Keep working

   While DHS or SSA reviews your case, you may keep working, and the employer may not fire you or take other action against you because of the mismatch.

• If you do not have a Social Security number yet

  Asylum applicantsWith a work permit (EAD)Granted asylum

  The employer can wait to start the check until you get your number. Under E-Verify's rules it should let you work if you completed Form I-9, even if the number takes weeks or months.

  justice.gov

• What an employer may not do

  Free

  An employer may not check only some new workers in E-Verify, check applicants who have not been hired, stop you from working or delay your start while you fix a mismatch, or demand specific documents for E-Verify because of your national origin or status. If this happens, file a complaint with IER online: civilrightscharge.justice.gov/ier/charge.

  justice.gov

Besides the rules on work papers, New York bans certain questions when hiring.

• Questions about your past salary

  Any status

  Since January 6, 2020, employers in New York State may not require applicants to give their pay history as a condition of employment, and employees do not have to say what they earned at earlier jobs.

  dol.ny.gov

• Questions about a criminal record (NYC Fair Chance Act)

  NYC residents

  In New York City an employer generally may not ask about criminal convictions or pending criminal cases until it has made you a conditional job offer and assessed your other qualifications. There are exceptions.

  nyc.gov

• Computer screening of résumés (AEDT)

  NYC residentsFree

  If an employer or employment agency in New York City screens candidates with a machine learning or artificial intelligence program (an automated employment decision tool), city law requires an independent bias audit, a posted summary of the results and advance notice to candidates that the program will assess them, with instructions to ask for an accommodation. If not, file a complaint online with the City's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP): nyc.gov/site/dca/consumers/file-complaint.page.

  nyc.gov

• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

  Free

  The federal agency against job discrimination based on national origin, race, religion, sex, color, age, disability or genetic information. National origin complaints against employers with 15 or more employees go to the EEOC; against employers with 4 to 14 employees, to IER.

  eeoc.gov

• NYC Commission on Human Rights

  NYC residentsFree

  The City agency against discrimination. Contact it if you are treated worse at work because of your sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin or immigration status. The law protects employees, independent contractors, interns and job applicants. Report discrimination through the online form: nyc.gov/site/cchr/about/report-discrimination.page.

  nyc.gov