Complete Form I-9 for new hires

The Form I-9 is used to prove 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 self-onboard (with any start date—past, present, or future).

Here's how to create someone's I-9 when you add them to Gusto as a new hire:

1. Choose for the employee to self-onboard.
   • If you send an offer letter: After it's been accepted, the new employee must self-onboard. If you onboard the employee yourself, the I-9 will not be created in Gusto. 
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.

Complete the employer portion of Form I-9

The law says you must verify the employee’s identity and work eligibility by their start date.

After the employee finishes self-onboarding, you’ll get email and homepage reminders to complete your part of Form I-9. Here's how to complete it: 

1. On the employee's start date, sign in to your Gusto admin account.
2. Click the Complete Employee I-9 sticky note.
3. Review your new employee’s proof of identification documents that they have physically handed to you.
   • For more info on the required documents, scroll to "Eligibility document requirements" in this article.
4. Select which identification and work authorization documents you reviewed.
5. Click Save & Continue.
6. Enter the information seen on 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 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 need to delete an I-9, contact us from the Help section of your account.

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

Employers must check the employee's identification and eligibility documents. For remote employees, there are two options:

• Work with your remote new hire to complete 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 if you're an employer using E-Verify.

How to fill out the I-9 with a remote employee

1. The new hire must complete Section 1 by their start date.
   • If they self-onboard in Gusto, we'll create the form and make it available in their account.
2. Within 3 days, you or an authorized person must check the employee’s documents and complete Section 2.

Here’s how to fill out the form:

1. Check the full rules for getting, checking, and keeping copies of employee documents on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) website.
2. Have your employee fill out Section 1 of the I-9 by their start date.
   • If they self-onboard in Gusto, they'll be asked to fill out the form in their account. 
3. Within 3 days of the employee’s start date, you or an authorized representative must 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.
     
     • If you previously checked documents online because of the pandemic, you had until August 30, 2023, to check them in person.
   • 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's correct, then sign the form.
5. Store a copy of the eligibility documents and the signed I-9 form for three years, or one year after the employee’s termination — whichever comes first.
   • You have the option to store the documents in Gusto: here are steps for admins to upload documents, and steps for employees to upload documents.

What to do if you complete Form I-9 late (more than three 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 give you fines, 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 needed to prove employment eligibility depends on the employee's status in the United States. Documents must be current and not expired. 

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

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

View a specific employee’s I-9

Here's how to find a certain employee's I-9:

1. Go to the People section.
2. Click your employee's name.
3. Click the Documents tab.
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

Follow these steps to download all I-9s Gusto has on file for your entire team.

1. Go to the Documents section.
2. Click the Bulk I-9 and W-4 form packages tab.
   • A package may only be generated once per day. Depending on file size, it could take a while for your .zip file to be created.
3. On the I-9 row, click Generate.
   • These packages do not automatically update, so we recommend you click generate to make sure current employee information is included in your download.
4. Wait for the W-4 package to generate.
   • If you try to download a new package while the initial package is still generating, you'll download the old file.
5. Click Download—this will always download the last fully generated file.

The download shouldn’t take long. However, if your company has a large number of employees, check back in about 5 minutes to see if your .zip file is ready for download.