• All document information should be recorded in the designated area.
• The “First Date of Employment” section should state the date that the employee started work for pay, not the hire date.

Document information: The employer will record the title, issuing authority, document number (if any), and expiration date (if any) of the document(s) provided by the employee. The employer cannot specify which documentation an employee may present from the Lists of Acceptable Documents. The employer may use abbreviations for commonly used documents and agencies (e.g., “DL” for driver’s license and “SSA” for Social Security Administration), as long as the abbreviations are easily recognizable. An abbreviation that might only be understood locally should not be used.

Additional information: This space is to be used to record additional information that is sometimes required for the Form I-9, including:

• Notations required by the DHS, such as extensions of employment authorization or the expiration date of a document.
• Replacement document information, if a receipt was previously presented.
• Additional documentation presented by a nonimmigrant employee.

Optional information may also be entered, including:

• Termination dates
• Form retention date
• E-Verify case numbers, if applicable

Alternative procedure checkbox: This box is checked if the employer used an alternate procedure for document examination. Only employers participating in E-Verify are eligible to use an alternate procedure.

Certification: The statement included here is the employer’s attestation to having examined the documents presented by the employee.

Employee’s first day of employment: The date the employee began employment is recorded in the box next to the certification. This is the date the employee started working for pay (wages or other remuneration), not the hire date. In some cases, these dates may not be the same, so the first-day-of-employment date should match the employer’s payroll records. Temporary staffing agencies may enter the first day the employee was placed in a job pool. Recruiters and recruiters for a fee do not enter the employee’s first day of employment.

Name and signature of employer or authorized representative: The employer or employer’s authorized representative fills in the name and signature blocks and also enters the current date. The individual that signs in this section must be the individual who physically examines the employee’s original document(s) and completes Section 2.

Employer’s business or organization name and address: The employer’s business or organization name and address is entered in the spaces at the bottom of the form. If the company has multiple locations, the USCIS indicates that the employer should use the most appropriate address that identifies the employer with respect to the employee (e.g., the address where the Form I-9 is completed).