Complete Form I-9 and E-Verify for new hires

Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) proves that a new hire is allowed to work in the United States.

Create an I-9 for a new hire

Admins can create Form I-9s for employees who are self-onboarded or employer-onboarded (with any start date—past, present, or future).

To create someone's I-9 when adding them as a new hire through self-onboarding:

1. In Gusto, set up self-onboarding for the employee.

   • If you send an offer letter: After the new employee accepts it, they have the opportunity to fill out the I-9 after they onboard.

2. Click the checkbox next to Form I-9.

During self-onboarding, the new employee will enter their own personal details and sign documents, including Form I-9.

To create someone's I-9 when you add them to Gusto as a new hire through employer-led onboarding:

1. Onboard the employee.

2. Step 7 of onboarding is the Documents section. This lists the standard onboarding documents we'll send the employee, including the I-9. You can add or remove documents using the checkboxes.

3. Once employer-led onboarding is complete, the employee receives a dashboard notification to complete the onboarding forms, including the I-9 if you selected it. 

Complete the employer portion of Form I-9

The law says you need to verify the employee’s identity and work eligibility by their start date. After the employee finishes self-onboarding,  or an employer-onboarded employee fills out their portion of the I-9, you’ll get email and homepage reminders to complete your part of Form I-9.

To complete Form I-9:

1. On the employee's start date, sign in to your Gusto admin account.

2. Click the Complete Employee I-9 sticky note.

   • You can also get here by going to the employee's onboarding checklist.

3. Review your new employee’s proof of identification documents that they have physically given to you.

   • For more info on the required documents, read the Eligibility document requirements section of this article.

4. Select which identification and work authorization documents you reviewed.

5. Click Save & Continue.

6. Enter the information from the identification and work authorization documents.

7. Click Save & Continue.

8. Enter your full name and your title at the company. Select I agree to electronically sign this form.

9. Click Sign.

If you chose not to send the I-9 form when an employee was onboarded, you'll get a dashboard notification and an onboarding checklist task to upload the completed form.

Download a blank copy of the Form I-9

If you need a copy of Form I-9 to send to your employee to fill out:

1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.

2. On your dashboard, find the Complete [employee name]'s I-9 sticky note. Click the three dots icon.

   • You can also get here by going to the employee's onboarding checklist and finding the task called Complete [employee name]'s I-9.

3. Click Download form.

Once the employee completes the form and returns it to you, you can upload it to Gusto.

Upload a completed I-9 to Gusto

To add a completed I-9 to an employee's profile:

1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.

2. On your dashboard, click the Complete Employee I-9 sticky note.

   • You can also get here by going to the employee's onboarding checklist and finding the task called Complete [employee name]'s I-9.

3. Click Upload.

4. Select +Upload to attach a document.

5. Click the checkbox to verify that the file uploaded is an accurate copy of the original documents presented by the employee.

6. Click Save.

This saves the form to the Documents section of the employee’s profile and marks the task as done.

Mark the I-9 task as done without uploading the document 

If you need to mark someone's I-9 task as done without uploading anything to Gusto, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.

2. Click People.

3. Choose Onboarding.

4. Find the name of the employee and click View checklist.

5. Find the task called Complete [employee name]'s I-9 and click the three dots icon.

6. Click Mark as done.

If you need to edit the I-9, you’ll have to do it outside of Gusto. Once done, upload the corrected version to your employee's profile. Check out the USCIS website for best practices when correcting an I-9.

If you hire a remote employee, you need to complete Form I-9 with them by their start date. The form verifies their identity and eligibility to work in the U.S.

Employers need to check the employee's identification and eligibility documents. You have two options for remote employees:

• Work with your remote new hire to do an in-person inspection of their documents, or

• If your company uses E-Verify, you can check their Form I-9 documents remotely.

  • You can learn how to enroll in E-Verify and find more information on remote document checks and keeping records on the Remote Examination page.

  • The USCIS also offers an alternate method for examining documents.

Fill out the I-9 with a remote employee

To fill out the form with a remote employee:

1. Check the full rules for getting, checking, and keeping copies of employee documents on the ICE website.

2. Have your employee fill out Section 1 of the I-9 by their start date.

   • We'll create the form and make it available in their account if you make that selection during the onboarding.

3. Within 3 days of the employee’s start date, you or an authorized representative need to check the employee’s ID and work documents and fill out Section 2.

   • What to look for: An ID document is okay if it shows who the employee is, looks real, and is not expired.

   • Authorized representative: Anyone you authorize to complete and sign Section 2 on the company's behalf.

   • Get line-by-line guidance for completing Section 2 from ICE.

4. Double-check that every field is filled out and that the information is correct, then sign the form.

5. Store copies of eligibility documents and the signed I-9 form for three years after the date of hire, or one year after the employee's termination — whichever is later.

   • If you chose not to send the form to the employee through Gusto: Their onboarding checklist will include an option to upload the form to their profile.

   • You can store the documents in Gusto. Check out our articles with steps for admins and steps for employees.

What to do if you complete Form I-9 late

If you complete Form I-9 more than three business days after the start date, fill out the form as soon as you can and write down why it was delayed. If US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) checks your records, they might fine you, and the fines could get bigger with each mistake. It's important to finish these forms quickly and fix any delays right away.

The type of documentation you need to prove employment eligibility depends on the employee's status in the United States. Documents need to be current and not expired.

For more info on these requirements, check out the official I-9 form on the government website.

E-Verify is a free online system. It checks if new employees can legally work in the United States.

Once you complete Form I-9, you can view it in an employee’s profile. You can also download all the I-9s Gusto has on file for your entire team.

View a specific employee’s I-9

To find a certain employee's I-9:

1. Go to People.

2. Click your employee's name.

3. Click Documents.

4. View the Form I-9.

Employees can also access and download this form at any time by going to the Documents tab in their own account.

Download a package of all Form I-9s in Gusto

To download all the I-9s Gusto has on file for your entire team:

1. Go to Documents.

2. Click Bulk downloads.

   • You can only generate a package once per day. Depending on the file size, your .zip file could take a while to create.

3. On the I-9 row, click Generate.

4. Wait for the W-4 package to generate.

   • If you download a package while the new package is still generating, you'll download the old file.

5. Once generated, click Download.