4.5 Remote Document Examination (Optional Alternative Procedure to Physical Document Examination)

Employers who participate in E-Verify in good standing are qualified to remotely examine their employee’s documentation using a DHS-authorized alternative procedure at their E-Verify hiring sites. This includes the use of an authorized representative acting on your behalf, such as a third-party vendor. If you choose to offer the alternative procedure to new employees at an E-Verify hiring site, you must do so consistently for all employees at that site. However, you may choose to offer the alternative procedure for remote hires only but continue to apply physical examination procedures to all employees who work onsite or in a hybrid capacity, so long as you do not adopt such a practice for a discriminatory purpose or treat employees differently based on their citizenship, immigration status, or national origin, such as by deciding that certain employees are not eligible for remote examination of their documentation. To examine your employee’s documentation remotely, you must be enrolled in good standing in E-Verify, and complete the following steps: 

1. Examine copies (front and back, if the document is two-sided) of Form I-9 documents or an acceptable receipt to ensure that the documentation presented reasonably appears to be genuine;
2. Conduct a live video interaction with the individual presenting the document(s) to ensure that the documentation reasonably appears to be genuine and related to the individual. The employee must first transmit a copy of the document(s) to the employer (per Step 1 above) and then present the same document(s) during the live video interaction;
3. Indicate on the Form I-9, by completing the corresponding box, that an alternative procedure was used to examine documentation to complete Section 2 or for reverification in Supplement B, as applicable; and
4. Retain a clear and legible copy of the documentation (front and back if the documentation is two-sided).

In the event of a Form I-9 audit by a federal government official, make available the clear and legible copies of the identity and employment authorization documentation presented by the employee for document examination in connection with the employment eligibility verification process.

Figure 7: Checkbox in Section 2 to Indicate Remote Documentation Examination

Continue to complete the Form I-9 according to Form I-9 instructions and related guidance on I-9 Central and in the M-274, Handbook for Employers.