I-9 Documents List: What Counts Under List A, List B and List C

What is an I-9 document?

Form I-9 is the federal Employment Eligibility Verification form. Every employer in the country completes one for every person it hires, from a part-time cashier on Route 38 to a software engineer working from a kitchen table in Pawtucketville. The form has two main parts. The employee fills in Section 1 with personal details and citizenship or immigration status. The employer, or someone acting for the employer, fills in Section 2 after looking at the employee’s documents.

Those documents are what people mean by “I-9 documents” or “I-9 documentation.” They come from a fixed list printed with the form, called the Lists of Acceptable Documents. Anything not on the list doesn’t count, however official it looks. A birth certificate counts. A hospital birth souvenir with footprints on it doesn’t.

Each document proves one or both of two things:

• Identity. That you are the person named in Section 1.
• Employment authorization. That you are allowed to work in the United States.

The lists are built around those two questions. List A answers both. List B answers identity only. List C answers employment authorization only. That’s why the rule reads “one from A, or one from B and one from C.”

A word before the details. We’re notaries. We aren’t immigration consultants or attorneys. This page explains what the form says. It isn’t legal advice, and questions about your status belong with an immigration attorney.

The I-9 documents list at a glance

USCIS publishes the full list on the last page of the form and on its I-9 Central website. Employers should always use the current edition of the form from USCIS rather than a copy someone saved years ago.

List A: documents that prove identity and work authorization

If you have one of these, you’re done. Show it and nothing else is needed.

• U.S. passport or U.S. passport card. The most common List A document for U.S. citizens. It has to be unexpired.
• Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551), the green card.
• Foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp, or with a temporary I-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa.
• Employment Authorization Document with a photo (Form I-766).
• Foreign passport with Form I-94 or I-94A, for someone authorized to work for a specific employer because of their status, as long as the endorsement hasn’t expired and the job fits its terms.
• Passport from the Federated States of Micronesia or the Marshall Islands with Form I-94 or I-94A showing admission under the Compact of Free Association.

A typical case: a nurse who just moved to Belvidere starts at a hospital in Lowell. She hands over her U.S. passport card on the first day, and that single card completes the document part of Section 2.

List B: identity documents

List B documents prove who you are. They say nothing about whether you can work, so each one has to travel with a List C document.

• A driver’s license or ID card issued by a U.S. state or outlying possession, with a photo or with identifying details such as name, date of birth and address. A Massachusetts license from the RMV service center in Lowell or Wilmington qualifies.
• An ID card issued by a federal, state or local government agency, with a photo or identifying details.
• A school ID card with a photo.
• A voter’s registration card.
• A U.S. military card or draft record, or a military dependent’s ID card.
• A U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Card.
• A Native American tribal document.
• A driver’s license issued by a Canadian government authority.

For workers under 18 who can’t produce one of those, the list adds a school record or report card, a clinic, doctor or hospital record, and a day-care or nursery school record. That matters for summer jobs. A sixteen-year-old in Tewksbury with no license yet can use a report card for identity, paired with a List C document.

List C: work authorization documents

List C documents prove you can work in the United States. They don’t prove identity, so they pair with List B.

• A Social Security card, unless it is stamped “Not valid for employment,” “Valid for work only with INS authorization” or “Valid for work only with DHS authorization.” A restricted card doesn’t count.
• An original or certified copy of a U.S. birth certificate issued by a state, county, municipal authority or territory, bearing an official seal.
• A Department of State certification of report of birth abroad (Forms FS-545, DS-1350 or FS-240).
• A Native American tribal document.
• A U.S. Citizen ID Card (Form I-197) or an Identification Card for Use of Resident Citizen in the United States (Form I-179).
• An employment authorization document issued by DHS that isn’t already covered by List A.

The birth certificate trips people up. A hospital souvenir certificate doesn’t count, and neither does a photocopy. It has to be issued by the government with an official seal. In Massachusetts that means a certified copy from the city or town clerk where you were born, or from the Registry of Vital Records. Our guide on how to apostille a birth certificate explains how to order a certified copy, which is the same first step.

Receipts: when a receipt can stand in for an I-9 document

Sometimes a new hire’s document is lost or still in the mail. The form allows a receipt in three narrow situations, and each comes with a deadline to show the real document.

• A receipt for a replacement of a lost, stolen or damaged document. It is good for 90 days from the start of work. By then the employee shows the replacement.
• Form I-94 with a temporary I-551 stamp and a photo. This counts as a List A receipt until the stamp expires, or for one year from issuance if it has no expiration date. Then the employee shows the Permanent Resident Card.
• Form I-94 with a refugee admission stamp or notation. This counts as a List A receipt for 90 days. Within that time the employee shows an Employment Authorization Document, or a List B document plus an unrestricted Social Security card.

A receipt showing you applied for a document for the first time, such as a first Employment Authorization Document, isn’t acceptable. The receipt rule covers replacements and these specific stamps, nothing more.

Rules about I-9 documents that people get wrong

• The employee chooses. An employer can’t ask for a specific document, such as insisting on a passport or a green card. The employee picks any valid combination from the lists. Asking for particular documents can create a discrimination problem for the employer.
• Originals only. Photocopies and photos on a phone don’t count. A certified copy of a birth certificate is an original document for this purpose because the issuing office produced it.
• Unexpired. An expired passport or license won’t work, even by a day.
• Reasonably genuine. The person examining the documents checks that they appear genuine and relate to the employee. They aren’t expected to be a forensic examiner.
• Copies are all or nothing. An employer that keeps photocopies of I-9 documents should do so for every employee, not just some.
• Names can differ for a reason. A married name on a license and a maiden name on a Social Security card isn’t automatically a problem, but the employee should be ready to explain, and the employer may ask.

Timing is part of the rules too. The employee completes Section 1 no later than the first day of work. The employer completes Section 2 within three business days of that first day. That deadline is why remote hires often end up calling us on a Wednesday for a Monday start.

Remote hires and Section 2: who looks at the documents

When the employer’s HR office is in another state, someone near the new hire has to examine the original documents in person. Employers handle this by naming an authorized representative. That can be anyone the employer chooses, and many pick a notary because notaries already check IDs for a living. Our I-9 authorized representative service page covers how that works at our office. Some employers enrolled in E-Verify can use a DHS-approved alternative procedure that examines documents over a live video call instead. The employer decides which method it uses.

Here’s how an in-person Section 2 appointment runs at the Tewksbury office.

1. The employer sends instructions

   Usually a link to its HR platform or a PDF of the form. Forward it to us before the appointment so we know which system we’re working in.

2. The new hire completes Section 1

   Ideally before the visit, and no later than the first day of work. We don’t fill in Section 1 for anyone.

3. The new hire brings original documents

   One List A document, or one List B plus one List C. Bring a backup document if you have one, in case something turns out to be expired.

4. We examine the documents in person

   We check each one against the list and its expiration date. It also has to appear to belong to the person in front of us.

5. We complete Section 2

   The document details go into the form, and we sign as the employer’s representative. No notary seal is used, because this is not a notarial act.

6. The form goes back to the employer

   By upload or email, the way the employer asked. The employer stays responsible for the form and for keeping it.

The office is at 1215 Main St, Unit 115, on Route 38 about 3 miles from downtown Lowell, by appointment Monday to Friday 10 to 5. For new hires who can’t come in, our mobile notary service reaches homes across the Merrimack Valley, from $125 near Tewksbury and $199 in Lowell. Lowell residents can read more about local options on our Lowell notary page. Arabic and French are spoken at the desk, which some new arrivals find helpful, and our Arabic-speaking notary page says more.

Does an I-9 need to be notarized?

No. Nothing on Form I-9 calls for a notary seal, and stamping one on Section 2 can make the form look altered. When a notary completes Section 2, they act as a private person designated by the employer, the same as an HR clerk would. Their notary commission doesn’t change what they sign.

Onboarding often includes other forms that do get notarized, though. Some Massachusetts employers ask new staff to sign the CORI Acknowledgment Form in front of a notary before a criminal record check, which we notarize for $45 in office. Our CORI form notarization page explains it. For a broader view of the paperwork a company deals with, see the notary guide for small businesses in Massachusetts.

If you’re curious which IDs a notary accepts for real notarizations, the list is different from the I-9 lists. Our guide to the ID required for notarization in Massachusetts covers it.

Questions about the I-9 documents list