Remote Examination of I-9 Documents

Every employer in the United States has to verify a new hire's identity and work authorization on Form I-9, and for decades that meant physically handling the documents. Since 2023, an alternative procedure allows qualified employers — those enrolled in E-Verify and in good standing with it — to examine those documents remotely over a live video call instead, provided they retain copies of what they viewed. The temporary flexibilities used earlier in the decade during the pandemic have ended; this is the durable version that replaced them.

For a worker, the practical effect is that a new job may verify you by video rather than asking you to come into an office. The rules about which documents you present, and about what the employer may demand, have not changed.

Which employers may use it

The alternative procedure is not open to everyone. The employer has to be enrolled in E-Verify for the hiring site, be a participant in good standing, and follow the procedure's requirements for the examination and for retention. An employer that is not enrolled must still examine documents in person, either directly or through an authorized representative acting on its behalf.

• Enrollment in E-Verify covering the hiring location.
• Good standing as a participant, including completion of the required training.
• Live video interaction with the worker — not photographs sent by email, and not a recorded clip.
• Retention of clear copies, front and back where the document is two-sided.
• Consistent application, either to all employees at a site or to all remote employees at that site.

Worth knowing: The consistency requirement exists to prevent the procedure from being used selectively. An employer may not verify some workers in person and others by video based on who they are, where they come from, or what documents they carry. Applying it by site or by remote status is permitted; applying it by nationality or perceived immigration status is not.

How the examination actually runs

The current form, its instructions, and the handbook for employers live on the USCIS I-9 page, which is where any employer should check before setting up a process. Editions of the form change, and using a superseded edition creates its own problem.

What has not changed for workers

The video call changes the mechanics, not the substance. You still choose which documents to present from the lists on the form — one document from List A, or one from List B together with one from List C. An employer may not tell you which to bring, may not insist on a particular document because of how you look or sound, and may not reject a document that reasonably appears genuine.

Careful: Asking for more or different documents than the form requires is a form of discrimination in its own right, sometimes called document abuse, and it is unlawful regardless of intention. The same is true of re-verifying a worker whose document does not need re-verification, such as a permanent resident card that has expired on its face.

Which documents you can present depends on what you actually hold. Workers who applied for a permit on Form I-765 should watch the document's expiration date, and workers whose authorization derives from a temporary grant should read our guide on requesting re-parole before parole expires, since the underlying permission can lapse before the card does.

Documents that people confuse

Two documents come up constantly in this context and are frequently misunderstood. The first is the Social Security card, which is a List C document for work authorization purposes but says nothing about identity, and which carries a restrictive legend in some cases — our guide on Social Security numbers and cards for noncitizens explains the different card types. The second is a state driver's license, which is a List B identity document and nothing more; states issue several varieties with different federal recognition, covered in driver's licenses and state IDs for noncitizens.

Employment verification is federal, but the employment rules stacked on top of it are not. States and cities set their own requirements on hiring paperwork, wage notices, paid leave, and in some places restrictions on how employers may use E-Verify or respond to workplace enforcement. Those rules differ sharply between states and sometimes between cities in the same state, so an employer or worker should check the local requirements alongside the federal ones.

An ITIN is not on any list. It is a tax processing number and does not establish work authorization at all, a point covered in filing taxes with an ITIN instead of a Social Security number. Employers who ask for one during hiring have misunderstood what it is.

Because the alternative procedure sits alongside E-Verify obligations, anti-discrimination rules, and retention duties, employers setting it up for the first time frequently have immigration legal counsel review the written process before it is applied to real hires. Workers who believe they have been treated differently during verification should keep the emails and the call invitations, which are the evidence of how the process was actually run. General agency information is published at uscis.gov and current form editions on the forms page.

Common questions

My employer wants to keep a copy of my passport. Is that allowed?

Under the alternative procedure, retaining copies is required rather than optional, so an employer using video examination must keep them. In ordinary in-person verification, copying is optional but must be done consistently for everyone if it is done at all. Either way, the copies belong in the verification file, not scattered through email, and they should be handled with the same care as other personnel records.

Can a notary or a manager look at my documents on the employer's behalf?

For in-person examination, an employer may designate an authorized representative to examine documents and complete its part of the form. That person can be almost anyone the employer chooses, and the employer remains legally responsible for what the representative does. Notaries often provide this service, though acting as an authorized representative is not a notarial act and no notarization of the form is required.

Does the video call get recorded or sent to the government?

The procedure calls for a live interaction; it does not require recording the call, and the form and its copies stay with the employer rather than being filed with an agency. What is transmitted is the separate E-Verify case the employer creates. Employers must retain the verification file for the period the instructions specify and produce it if it is ever inspected.

What happens when my work permit expires while I am employed?

Your employer must reverify your authorization by the recorded expiration date, and can use the alternative procedure for that step if it qualifies. Some categories carry an automatic extension of the document's validity in defined circumstances, announced by the agency and not by the employer. Check the current agency guidance for your category well before the date, since the rules on automatic extensions have changed repeatedly.

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