Under the Immigration Reform and Control Act, all U.S. employers are required to verify the employment eligibility and identity of all employees hired to work in the United States after November 6, 1986. The employers are required to verify both identity and work eligibility.

It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that the appropriate documentation is provided by every new employee. There are serious penalties for not being able to provide Form I-9 for all employees upon request. The employer has the right to refuse the employee to continue to work. To implement the law, employers are required to complete Employment Eligibility Verification forms (Form I-9) for all employees, including U.S. citizens.

Every U.S. employer must have a Form I-9 in its files for each new employee, unless:

• the employee was hired before November 7, 1986, and has been continuously employed by the same employer.
• Form I-9 need not be completed for those individuals:
  • providing domestic services in a private household that are sporadic, irregular, or intermittent;
  • providing services for the employer as an independent contractor (i.e. carry on independent business, contract to do a piece of work according to their own means and methods and are subject to control only as to results for whom the employer does not set work hours or provide necessary tools to do the job, or whom the employer does not have authority to hire and fire); and
  • providing services for the employer, under a contract, subcontract, or exchange entered into after November 6, 1986. (In such cases, the contractor is the employer for I-9 purposes; for example, a temporary employment agency.)