I-9 audit

Definition

A federal inspection of the forms proving each employee may work here.

Why It Matters

The government gives three business days of notice before it reads the file, and by then the file is whatever the seller left in it. Every form is kept for three years after the hire or one year after the person leaves, whichever ends later, so the record outlives most of the jobs inside it. A buyer keeping the staff has a choice the rule spells out at 8 CFR 274a.2: complete fresh forms for everyone, or carry the seller's forward, which is allowed only where you obtain and maintain them. Carrying the file forward carries its errors too, which is why this is a document request and not a first-week task.

In numbers: Someone hired 5 years ago and gone 18 months is clear on both clocks; someone hired 4 years ago and gone 6 months is not, because the file is kept 3 years from the hire or 1 year from the exit, whichever ends later.