What Documents Do I Need for I-9? List A or Lists B and C

For employees hired to work in the United States, Form I-9 is generally part of the new-hire process, and the paperwork stalls on one question: what documents do I need for I-9. The answer is not "two forms of ID", which is what most onboarding emails say. It is one document from List A, or one from List B together with one from List C.

This article explains what the lists contain. It is not legal advice. USCIS publishes the authoritative lists and the Handbook for Employers, M-274, at uscis.gov.

The rule in one sentence

You present either a single List A document, which establishes identity and employment authorization together, or one List B document establishing identity plus one List C document establishing employment authorization.

That is the whole rule. A passport on its own is complete. A driver's license on its own is not, because it proves who you are and says nothing about your right to work.

Every document must be unexpired, with one qualification: a document extended by the authority that issued it counts as unexpired.

List A: identity and work authorization in one document

These six establish both at once, and presenting one of them ends the exercise:

• A U.S. passport or U.S. passport card
• A Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card, Form I-551, commonly called a green card
• A foreign passport containing a temporary I-551 stamp, or a temporary I-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa
• An Employment Authorization Document, Form I-766, that carries a photograph
• For someone authorized to work for a specific employer because of their nonimmigrant status, a foreign passport with a Form I-94 in the same name, endorsed with that status, where the endorsement has not expired and the work does not conflict with any restriction shown
• A passport from the Federated States of Micronesia or the Republic of the Marshall Islands with a Form I-94 showing admission under the Compact of Free Association

List B: documents that establish identity

Any one of these proves who you are, and needs a List C document alongside it:

• A driver's license or ID card issued by a U.S. state or outlying possession, carrying 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 carrying the same, other than the state license or ID card above
• A school ID card with a photograph
• A voter's registration card
• A U.S. military card or draft record
• A military dependent's ID card
• A U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Card
• A Native American tribal document
• A driver's license issued by a Canadian government authority

List C: documents that establish employment authorization

Any one of these proves your right to work, and needs a List B document alongside it:

• A Social Security account number card, provided it does not carry a restriction reading NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT, VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH INS AUTHORIZATION, or VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION
• A Certification of Report of Birth issued by the U.S. Department of State, on Form DS-1350, FS-545 or FS-240
• An original or certified copy of a birth certificate issued by a U.S. state, county, municipal authority or outlying territory, bearing an official seal
• A Native American tribal document
• Form I-197, U.S. Citizen Identification Card
• Form I-179, Identification Card for Use of Resident Citizen in the United States
• An employment authorization document issued by the Department of Homeland Security, which does not include Form I-766, because that one sits on List A

One pairing you will see often is a driver's license and a Social Security card, and it works as long as the card carries none of those three restrictions.

If you are under 18

Applicants under 18 who cannot produce any of the List B documents above have three further options: a school record or report card, a clinic, doctor or hospital record, or a day care or nursery school record. Any of these still needs a List C document with it.

Who chooses which documents you present

You do. This is not a courtesy, it is the rule.

Your employer must show you the Lists of Acceptable Documents and let you decide what to bring from them. It may not tell you to bring a passport, or ask for a license and a Social Security card specifically, even if it says the same thing to everyone.

The prohibition runs both ways. An employer may not ask someone who has presented a List A document to also produce List B and List C documents, and may not ask someone presenting List B and List C to produce a List A document as well. Requiring specific or extra documents runs against the I-9 process and can create discrimination risk. Where the demand is based on citizenship, immigration status or national origin, it can amount to what the Department of Justice calls an unfair documentary practice.

An expiration date on your document also has no bearing on whether you get the job. Using one that way risks a discrimination finding.

Receipts, if a document is lost or stolen

A receipt can stand in temporarily.

For List A, you can present a receipt for a replacement of a lost, stolen or damaged List A document, a Form I-94 issued to a lawful permanent resident bearing an I-551 stamp and a photograph, or a Form I-94 with an "RE" notation or refugee stamp issued to a refugee. For Lists B and C, you can present a receipt for a replacement of a lost, stolen or damaged document from either list.

Two limits matter. A receipt showing you have applied for an initial grant of employment authorization is not acceptable. Neither is any receipt where the job lasts fewer than three business days.

Timing

You complete your section of the form no later than your first day of work for pay. Your documents go to your employer within three business days of the day work for pay begins.

For a job shorter than three business days, everything happens on the first day.

Some documents require reverification later, which applies to certain List A and List C documents when they expire. A green card is not among them. Permanent resident status does not lapse when the card does.

What this guide leaves to your employer

This covers what you bring. It does not cover what your employer does with it, which includes examining originals, recording what it saw, retention periods and correction rules. Those are employer obligations with their own guidance.

It also does not cover which specific version of your document is genuine. Cards get redesigned, older designs stay valid until they expire, and USCIS publishes examples in the M-274 handbook.

Form fields cause as much trouble as documents do, and our guide to what suffix, title and designation mean on a form covers the labels that stall people in Section 1.

If you would rather be walked through the form on screen than read about it, Guidy reads the field in front of you and explains what it wants. The AI form filler page has examples.

Key takeaways

• One document from List A is complete on its own, or one from List B plus one from List C together
• A driver's license alone is never enough, because List B proves identity and says nothing about the right to work
• A Social Security card works as a List C document unless it is printed with one of the three employment restrictions
• You choose which documents to present, and your employer may not request specific ones or ask for extras
• Documents go to your employer within three business days of the day work for pay begins

FAQs

Is a driver's license enough on its own?

No. It is a List B document, so it establishes identity only. You need a List C document with it, or a single List A document instead.

My Social Security card says it is valid for work only with DHS authorization. Can I use it?

Not as a List C document. Cards carrying that restriction, or the INS version, or NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT, are excluded. You would present something else from List C, or a List A document.

Can my employer tell me which documents to bring?

No. It must present the lists and let you choose. Requiring a specific document runs against the process even when the employer asks everyone for the same one, and where the demand is based on citizenship, immigration status or national origin it can amount to an unfair documentary practice.

My green card has expired. Do I have a problem?

Not necessarily. Permanent resident status does not end when the card does, and a green card holder is never reverified. Some cards are treated as unexpired past the printed date through a receipt notice or a Federal Register notice.

Do photocopies count?

Under the standard procedure your employer examines original documents in person. There is now a documented alternative: employers enrolled in E-Verify and in good standing may use an authorized remote examination procedure, where you transmit copies and appear over live video. Which route applies is your employer's to tell you. A certified copy of a birth certificate is a separate matter, being a document List C names in its own right rather than a photocopy of one.