Who does not require a Form I-9?

Only employees who were hired after November 6, 1986 need to have completed an I-9. Forms I-9 are also not required for individuals who are employed for casual domestic work in a private home on a sporadic, irregular, or intermittent basis.

There are also other categories of individuals for whom employers do not need to complete a form. They include:

Employees outside of the U.S. Employees who are not working on U.S. soil are not required to complete a Form I-9, even if they are employed by a U.S. Employer.

Nonemployees. Nonemployees do not require a Form I-9. For instance, independent contractors are not employees (assuming they are properly classified as independent contractors), so the company enlisting the contractor's services need not complete an I-9 for that individual. Unpaid workers Volunteers and unpaid interns (again, where properly classified) are also not employees, so employers will not be required to complete I-9s for these individuals.

Employees of a temporary agency. Individuals who work for a company through a temporary agency are typically employees of the agency. Even though these individuals are working for another employer, the temporary agency usually handles payroll and other human resource functions for these individuals, so the workers remain the employees of the temp agency. Where this is the case, the temporary agency is responsible for ensuring their employees are authorized to work in the United States via the Form I-9 process.

While employers are free to use temporary agencies to obtain workers, an employer can still be held responsible if it knew (or should have known) that the workers obtained from the temporary agency were not authorized to work. Employers who use the services of temporary agencies may want to ask for confirmation that the agency completes the Form I-9 process for all of their employees. Due to privacy concerns, temporary agencies may prefer not to share the actual I-9 forms, however.

The self-employed. A self-employed person does not need to complete a Form I-9 on his or her own behalf, unless the person is an employee of a separate business entity, such as a corporation or partnership. If the person is an employee of a separate business entity, he or she, and any other employees, will have to complete the Form I-9.