Welcome to my fourth in a series of posts promoting the publication of my new book: I-9 Verification Employment eGuide for HR professionals. This free guide covers everything that busy HR pros need to know to walk them through the I-9 verification process without running afoul of common problems.

These blog posts are covering the first chapter of the book, “Top 10 Questions from Employers About I-9s.” So far, I have covered:

• 6 of the Top I-9 Mistakes That Employers Make
• An Employee’s Green Card Is Expiring — Do You Need to Reverify It?
• Form I-9: How, When and By Whom Does It Need to Be Completed

In the following post, we are going to review the fourth question of the chapter: what Form I-9 retention requirements exist.

How Long Should You Keep Form I-9?

An employer should keep a current I-9 on file for any employee who is still working for them.

But what about when an employee no longer works for you? 

The Form I-9 retention requirement is one year from the date of the employee’s termination. Or it can also be retained three years from the date of hire. But this is dependent on whichever event is later. 

Options for Retaining Copies of Form I-9

An employee’s Form I-9 can be kept on paper, microfilm, or electronically. The only pages of an I-9 that must be kept are ones with information filled in by the employee or employer. But it’s important to note that any incomplete I-9 documentation is a government violation. 

Paper copies of the Form I-9 that include signatures must be able to be presented to DHS within three business days, should your business receive an inspection request. You may keep these paper copies on-site or at an offsite location.

You can find far more detailed information about the entire I-9 verification process by downloading my new eguide now.

Next week, we will examine the fifth question from Chapter 1: Is pre-population of Section 1 permitted for Form I-9?