I-9 List A, B and C documents: what a new hire can present, and what you cannot ask for

Form I-9 gives the new hire two ways to prove identity and work authorization: one document from List A, which proves both, or one document from List B (identity) together with one document from List C (employment authorization). The employee decides which of those routes to take and which documents to bring. The employer's job is to examine what is presented, accept it if it reasonably appears genuine and relates to the person, and record it in Section 2. Almost every documentary problem that reaches an investigator starts with an employer asking for something the lists do not require.

This page covers what is on each list, the details that trip people up, and exactly what you may and may not say about documents. For when the documents are due, see Form I-9 timing in hiring; for temporary receipts in place of a document, see the I-9 receipt rule.

The rule in one table

The form itself says it plainly: employees may present one selection from List A, or a combination of one selection from List B and one from List C. Nothing on the form lets an employer require a particular route.

List A: documents that prove both

As printed on the 01/20/25 edition of the form, List A contains:

1. U.S. passport or U.S. passport card.
2. Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card (Form I-551).
3. Foreign passport containing a temporary I-551 stamp or temporary I-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa.
4. Employment Authorization Document with a photograph (Form I-766).
5. For someone temporarily authorized to work for a specific employer because of their status or parole: a foreign passport together with a Form I-94 or I-94A bearing the same name and an unexpired endorsement of the status or parole, where the proposed job does not conflict with any restriction on the form.
6. A passport from the Federated States of Micronesia or the Republic of the Marshall Islands with a Form I-94 or I-94A showing nonimmigrant admission under the Compact of Free Association.

Items 5 and 6 are combinations: the passport alone is not a List A document, and neither is the I-94 alone. Record each part in the separate document fields of the List A column, using the Additional Information space if more room is needed. Item 5 is also the one most likely to need reverification later, because the endorsement expires; see I-9 reverification.

One frequent mix-up: the Form I-766 Employment Authorization Document is a List A document, not a List C one. The form prints a note to that effect under List C. If a new hire hands you an EAD, you are done; do not ask for a driver's license as well.

List B: identity only

List B is longer and more varied:

• A driver's license or ID card issued by a U.S. state or outlying possession, with a photograph or identifying information such as name, date of birth, sex, height, eye color and address.
• An ID card issued by a federal, state or local government agency or entity, with the same photo-or-information condition.
• School ID card with a photograph.
• Voter's registration card.
• U.S. military card or draft record, or a military dependent's ID card.
• U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Card.
• Native American tribal document.
• Driver's license issued by a Canadian government authority.

For people under 18 who cannot present any of those, the list adds a school record or report card, a clinic, doctor or hospital record, and a day-care or nursery school record. USCIS also describes a procedure in which a parent or legal guardian establishes a minor's identity, and a similar "special placement" procedure for some employees with disabilities; both are in the Handbook, Section 4.2 and the section after it.

The E-Verify photo rule

If your company participates in E-Verify, the Form I-9 instructions say you may only accept List B documents that contain a photograph, and that this applies to minors and to people with disabilities too. A voter registration card with no photo is a valid List B document for a non-E-Verify employer and an unacceptable one for an E-Verify employer. This is also why the parent-or-guardian procedure for minors is not available to E-Verify employers.

List C: employment authorization only

• A Social Security card, unless it carries one of three restrictions: "NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT", "VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH INS AUTHORIZATION" or "VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION".
• A Department of State certification of report of birth (Forms DS-1350, FS-545, FS-240).
• An original or certified copy of a birth certificate issued by a U.S. state, county, municipal authority or territory, bearing an official seal.
• Native American tribal document.
• U.S. Citizen ID Card (Form I-197) and the Identification Card for Use of Resident Citizen in the United States (Form I-179).
• An employment authorization document issued by DHS (examples are in Sections 7 and 13 of the M-274).

A certified copy of a birth certificate is the only photocopy the Form I-9 instructions accept; every other document must be the original.

Expired documents and extensions

Every document with an expiration date must be unexpired on the day you examine it. The form carries one exception in its own words: documents extended by the issuing authority are considered unexpired. That is why an EAD that looks expired can still be acceptable if a valid extension applies, and why you should check USCIS's Employment Authorization Extensions page rather than reading the date on the card alone.

One change matters for anyone relying on older habits. Under an interim final rule effective October 30, 2025, USCIS ended the automatic extension of certain EADs for renewal applications filed on or after that date. A Form I-797C receipt for such a renewal is not evidence of employment authorization, alone or paired with an expired EAD. Extensions that arose from renewals filed before October 30, 2025 keep running until their stated end.

The opposite mistake also happens: rejecting a document because it will expire soon. The form's anti-discrimination notice says employers should not reject acceptable documentation because of a future expiration date.

What you may not demand

The Department of Justice's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section enforces the rule against unfair documentary practices: employers of any size may not request more or different documents than necessary, ask for specific documents, or reject reasonably genuine-looking documents because of a worker's citizenship, immigration status or national origin. In day-to-day terms:

• Do not name a document. "Bring your green card" and "we need your passport" are both off limits. So is asking a noncitizen for their EAD when they have offered a driver's license and a Social Security card.
• Do not ask for extra. A List A document ends the inquiry; so does a valid B plus C pair.
• Do not ask for proof of Section 1. The employer may not ask for documentation to verify what the employee entered in Section 1, including their citizenship box.
• Do not accept photocopies, other than a certified copy of a birth certificate.
• Do not reject a document that reasonably appears genuine and relates to the person. You are not expected to be a forensic examiner. If a document does not reasonably appear genuine, reject that document and give the employee the chance to present other acceptable documentation.
• Copy consistently or not at all. You may photocopy documents, and E-Verify employers must copy some of them, but a policy of copying documents for some new hires and not others is exactly the pattern that looks like discrimination.

What to say to a new hire about documents

The safe approach is to send the lists and let the employee choose. After the offer is accepted, something like this works:

Welcome aboard. On or before your third day, please bring original,
unexpired documents for your Form I-9. You can bring EITHER one document
from List A, OR one document from List B plus one from List C. The lists
are attached. The choice of documents is yours. If you have lost a
document and applied for a replacement, bring the receipt and let us know.

Recruiters should keep the document conversation out of interviews entirely. The two standard work authorization questions are fine; anything about which papers someone holds is not. See work authorization questions in interviews.

Common mix-ups, and the right answer

For a remote hire, the same lists apply; only the examination method changes. See I-9 remote verification for the DHS alternative procedure and the authorized representative option.