Form I-9 for seasonal and returning workers: continuing employment or a rehire?
On this page
- Two tracks, decided at the end of the season
- What makes a seasonal worker "continuing"
- Start-of-season checks for continuing workers
- Returning workers who were terminated
- E-Verify for seasonal staff
- Peak-week logistics
- H-2A and H-2B seasonal workers
- Retention between seasons
- A season-end checklist
- Questions people ask
When your seasonal crew comes back, the first Form I-9 question is not which documents to collect. It is whether these people ever stopped being your employees. USCIS lists seasonal employment among the situations that count as continuing employment, which means no new hire has taken place and no new form is needed, as long as the worker had a reasonable expectation of employment at all times. If the season ended with a termination, the person is a rehire, and different rules apply. Getting that decision right, and applying it consistently, is most of the work.
This is not legal advice. It summarizes 8 CFR 274a.2(b)(1)(viii), Sections 6.2, 7.6 and 8.0 of USCIS's Handbook for Employers (M-274), and the E-Verify User Manual, as of October 2026.
Two tracks, decided at the end of the season
The decision is best made when the season ends, not when it starts again. At that point you know who you intend to bring back, and how you describe the gap to employees is itself one of the factors USCIS weighs.
| Continuing seasonal employee | Terminated and later rehired | |
|---|---|---|
| Form I-9 at return | Inspect the existing form; update or reverify only if needed | Supplement B within three years of the original form, or a new Form I-9 |
| E-Verify at return | No new case | Depends on E-Verify's rehire rules |
| Retention clock | Still running from the original hire; employment has not ended | A termination date exists and the formula applies to it |
| Payroll and HR status in the off-season | Should look like a seasonal layoff or recall list | Should look like a separation |
What makes a seasonal worker "continuing"
The full list of continuing-employment situations, and the factors behind "reasonable expectation of employment," is in Form I-9 for rehires. For seasonal work, the factors translate into practical evidence you either have or do not:
| USCIS factor | What it looks like for a seasonal business |
|---|---|
| Employed on a regular and substantial basis, compared with similar workers | The worker completed the season on a normal schedule, not a handful of shifts |
| Complied with your established and published absence policy | A written seasonal or recall policy exists and the worker followed it |
| Your history of recalling absent employees | Records showing that you bring most of last season's crew back |
| Position not permanently filled by someone else | Seasonal roles are held open for returning staff |
| No benefits sought that are inconsistent with returning | Nothing in the record suggests the worker treated the job as over |
| Your financial condition allows the return | The next season is planned and budgeted |
| Communications indicate a likely return | An end-of-season letter or message saying you expect to recall them |
None of these is decisive alone, and USCIS says the list is not exhaustive. But an employer that has a written recall policy, sends an end-of-season recall notice, and actually recalls people has a much easier time showing continuing employment than one that issues final paychecks with a "thanks for a great summer" note and hires from scratch each spring.
Whatever you decide, decide it by role or by group, and apply it to everyone in that group. Treating citizens as continuing while making noncitizens complete new forms is the kind of selective practice the anti-discrimination rules are aimed at.
Start-of-season checks for continuing workers
The M-274 says that for an employee continuing in employment you should inspect the previously completed form, update it or reverify if necessary, and store it as if there were no interruption. Before the first shift:
- Find the form. If you cannot locate a continuing worker's Form I-9, you have a gap to fix now, not a reason to treat them as continuing.
- Check expiration dates. Reverification is due no later than the date employment authorization or a List A or List C document expires, and a seasonal layoff does not pause that date. Plan off-season expirations in advance. If one was missed, complete Supplement B now with the actual date and attach a short explanation, rather than backdating; see I-9 reverification and correcting common I-9 mistakes.
- Record legal name changes on Supplement B if you learn of any.
- Check the form edition. If you need to add a Supplement B block and the original form is an edition that is no longer valid, use Supplement B from the current edition and attach it. The current edition is dated 01/20/25.
Returning workers who were terminated
For workers who separated at the end of last season, follow the rehire rules:
- Within three years of the date the original form was completed, you may complete a Supplement B block with the rehire date (and reverify if their authorization or document has expired), or complete a new form.
- After three years, or if the original form cannot be found, complete a new Form I-9.
Seasonal employers who rely on Supplement B year after year should watch the three-year window. It runs from the date the original form was completed, not from the last rehire, so a worker hired in 2023 and rehired in 2024 and 2025 needs a new form for a 2026 rehire if that rehire falls more than three years after the 2023 form.
E-Verify for seasonal staff
- Continuing workers: they are not new hires, so you do not create a case.
- Rehires: E-Verify allows either approach, used consistently. Treat every rehire as a new hire with a new form and a new case, or use Supplement B and create a case only where the user manual requires one, such as when no earlier case was created or the earlier case did not end in Employment Authorized.
- New seasonal hires: the E-Verify User Manual says all newly hired employees, "including seasonal, temporary and rehired employees," must provide a Social Security number, and the case is due no later than the third business day after they start work for pay.
Peak-week logistics
Seasonal hiring compresses dozens of first days into a week. The rules do not flex for volume:
- Section 1 by the end of the first day of work, and only after the offer is accepted.
- Section 2 within three business days. For someone hired for less than three business days, Section 2 is due by the first day, and receipts cannot be accepted.
- Original documents examined by someone you have trained, or through the DHS alternative procedure if you are an E-Verify employer in good standing and use it consistently.
Staggering start dates, or completing Section 1 for accepted hires before day one, keeps the day-three deadline manageable. Running a high-volume hiring process covers the scheduling side, and Form I-9 for minors covers teenage summer staff.
H-2A and H-2B seasonal workers
Workers in H-2A (agricultural) or H-2B (non-agricultural) status present their unexpired foreign passport and Form I-94 showing that status, which together count as a List A document, with the I-94 end date recorded as the expiration date. Two notes from the M-274:
- If you timely file to extend a worker's H-2A status with you, they can keep working for up to 240 days while the petition is pending; write "240-Day Ext." and the filing date in Additional Information and reverify on the decision or at 240 days.
- A worker porting from another H-2A or H-2B employer can start once the new petition is properly filed (or on the requested start date, if later). The new employer completes a new Form I-9 and writes "H-2 Portability" and the relevant date in Additional Information.
Retention between seasons
The retention formula is three years after the date of hire or one year after employment ends, whichever is later. For a continuing seasonal worker, employment has not ended, so the form is active and cannot be purged in the off-season. For a worker you separated, the clock starts at that separation. Mixing the two, for instance by treating someone as continuing for I-9 purposes but recording a termination date in your HR system, creates a record that contradicts itself. See I-9 retention rules.
A season-end checklist
- Decide, by role or group, who is on a recall list and who is separated, and record it.
- Send recall-list workers a written note that you expect to bring them back.
- Keep continuing workers' forms in active files; start the retention clock only for separations.
- List expiration dates that will pass during the off-season and plan reverification.
- Before the next season, flag any rehire whose original form is more than three years old.
Questions people ask
Do returning seasonal employees need a new Form I-9 every year?
Not if they are continuing in employment. USCIS lists seasonal employment as continuing employment when the worker has a reasonable expectation of employment at all times. In that case you inspect and keep the existing form. If the worker was terminated and later rehired, the rehire rules apply instead.
What makes a seasonal worker continuing rather than rehired?
USCIS looks at factors such as whether the person worked on a regular and substantial basis, followed your published absence policy, whether you have a history of recalling people, whether their position was permanently filled, and what you communicated about their return.
Do we run returning seasonal workers through E-Verify again?
Not if they are continuing in employment. If you treat them as rehires, you either create a new Form I-9 and a new case, or use Supplement B and create a case only where E-Verify's rehire rules call for one, such as when no earlier case ended in Employment Authorized.
How does seasonal work affect how long we keep Form I-9?
Retention runs three years after the hire date or one year after employment ends, whichever is later. For a seasonal worker treated as continuing, employment has not ended between seasons, so the form stays in your active files until they actually separate.