I-9 reverification: when it is required and how to do it

Form I-9 reverification is required when an employee's employment authorization, or the document proving it, has an expiration date and that date arrives while they are still employed. The employer must reverify by the earlier of the date on the employee's own Section 1 authorization or the expiration date of the List A or List C document recorded in Section 2, using Supplement B, the form USCIS now uses in place of the old Section 3. Missing that date is a substantive paperwork violation, not a technical one.

When reverification is required, and when it never is

The rule that trips people up: a List A document's expiration triggers reverification even if the employee's own underlying work authorization has no end date, because Section 2 was completed using that specific document. Track the document's expiration date, not just the category of document, for each employee whose original List A or List C document expires.

The deadline, and USCIS's own reminder practice

Reverification must happen by the earlier of the two dates above. USCIS's guidance recommends reminding the employee at least 90 days before the reverification date is due, so there is time to request a renewed document before the deadline arrives, rather than discovering the expiration on the day itself. A 90-day reminder is a practice USCIS recommends, not a separate legal deadline; the reverification itself is still due by the expiration date regardless of when the reminder went out.

Reverification tracking, per employee:

1. Pull the expiration date recorded in Section 2 for the original List A or
   List C document (not the hire date, not today's date).
2. Set a reminder 90 days before that date to notify the employee.
3. On notice, ask the employee to choose and provide an unexpired List A or
   List C document (their choice, not yours to dictate) showing continued
   authorization.
4. Complete Supplement B on or before the expiration date: document title,
   number and expiration date of the new document, the date of rehire if
   applicable, and the signature and date of the person completing it.
5. If the employee cannot produce a qualifying document by the deadline,
   treat this the same as a new hire who cannot complete Section 2: get
   advice before continuing to employ them past the deadline.

What Supplement B replaced, and why the name changed

USCIS's current Form I-9 edition folds what used to be a standalone "Section 3" into Supplement B, titled "Reverification and Rehire." The substance is largely the same: reverification, rehire within three years, and a legal name change all use this same supplement. If you are working from an older internal process document that still says "complete Section 3," update the reference; the form USCIS publishes today does not have that section on the base form.

Rehires within three years

If you rehire someone within three years of the date their original Form I-9 was completed, you have a choice: complete a new Form I-9 from scratch, or complete Supplement B of the previously completed form, entering the rehire date and, if their work authorization needs updating, the new document information. Beyond three years, or if you no longer have the original I-9 on file, a new Form I-9 is required; Supplement B is not a substitute for a form that does not exist. See I-9 retention rules for how long you need to have kept that original form in the first place.

Reverification and E-Verify

Reverification is a Form I-9 obligation, separate from E-Verify. An E-Verify employer does not re-run a case through E-Verify at reverification; E-Verify queries happen once, tied to the original hire, not to later document expirations. If a reverification uncovers a document problem serious enough to raise doubt about continued work authorization, that is a Form I-9 compliance question to work through directly, not something to resolve by submitting a new E-Verify case. See E-Verify tentative nonconfirmation for how mismatches are actually handled, which is a different process triggered at hire, not at reverification.

A worked example

Say an employee presented an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) as a List A document at hire, with an expiration date of March 15, 2027. Nothing else about their Section 1 attestation carries an earlier date. The reverification deadline is March 15, 2027, the EAD's expiration date, regardless of when they were actually hired. Ninety days out, around December 15, 2026, the employer sends a reminder asking the employee to provide a renewed EAD or another acceptable List A or List C document showing continued authorization. If the renewed EAD arrives in February 2027 with a new expiration date of March 15, 2029, the employer completes Supplement B before March 15, 2027, recording the new document's information, and the next reverification deadline moves out to the new document's own expiration date. If, instead, the employee's renewal is delayed at USCIS and no new document has arrived by March 15, 2027, that is the point to get advice before continuing to employ them, rather than waiting past the deadline on the assumption a renewal is "probably coming."

The documents that most often drive this cycle are Employment Authorization Documents, since many EAD categories are issued for a fixed period and renewed rather than issued once. A document tied to nonimmigrant status with its own I-94 expiration date can trigger the same cycle. A conditional permanent resident's two-year Form I-551 is another common case; that card is, by design, temporary, so unlike an unrestricted green card, its expiration does require reverification (or, more precisely, confirming the person's status has converted or been extended) when the date arrives.

Special cases that come up in staffing and agency placements

• Placements that end and restart. A worker placed on one assignment, taken off it, and placed again within three years by the same legal employer can often use Supplement B rather than a new Form I-9, following the same rehire rule above. Confirm which entity is the legal employer of record first; see contractor onboarding checklist.
• Work authorization tied to a specific employer. Some employment authorization documents are tied to a particular employer or a specific status (certain student or exchange visitor categories, for example). A gap in placement can end that authorization even if the document's printed date has not yet passed; do not assume the printed expiration date is the only date that matters for these categories, and get advice when a placement lapses and restarts.

A reverification checklist

• Build a report of every current employee's Section 2 document expiration date, pulled from your I-9 records, not from memory.
• Set the 90-day reminder as a standing process, not a one-off task someone has to remember.
• Let the employee choose which unexpired List A or List C document to present; do not specify one for them.
• Complete Supplement B, not a brand-new Form I-9, unless the original form cannot be located or the three-year rehire window has passed.
• File Supplement B with the original Form I-9, not as a separate, disconnected document.
• Escalate immediately, rather than continuing employment past the deadline, if an employee cannot produce a qualifying document in time.

Common mistakes