Section 1, which is completed by the employee, is the first step in the I-9 process. This form asks employees to input personal information like their name, date of birth, and citizenship status, and to provide documentation proving their identity and eligibility to legally work in the United States.
Important Note:
This section can be filled out at any point after an offer of employment is accepted, but must be completed before or on the employee’s first day of employment for pay.[1]
Employee Experience in the Worker Portal
New employees benefit from the flexibility of Fountain’s mobile-optimized I-9 process. Once an onboarding flow with an I-9 task is assigned to them, each of your workers will see that task directly within their Worker Portal.
The task guides each employee through the Section 1 form fields, which are divided between multiple pages and sections, making it easier to complete.
Personal Information
The first page the employee completes is related to their personal information. Some fields will be prefilled for the employee due to the I-9 Center automatically pulling in information from the Worker’s Profile, such as their name, email, phone number, and address. Although these fields are prefilled, they can still be updated by the employee.
Citizenship Status [2]
The next page will ask the employee about their citizenship status. The employee will choose one of four statuses:
Citizen of the United States
Noncitizen national of the United States: an individual born in American Samoa, certain former citizens of the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and certain children of noncitizen nationals born abroad.
Lawful permanent resident: an individual who is not a U.S. citizen and who resides in the United States under legally recognized and lawfully recorded permanent residence as an immigrant.
Noncitizen authorized to work: An individual who has authorization to work but is not a U.S. citizen, noncitizen national, or lawful permanent resident.
If the employee chooses one of the first two citizenship statuses, they will move forward without needing to provide additional information. If the employee is a lawful permanent resident, then they will also need to specify one of the following:
USCIS Number, or
A-Number
If the employee is a noncitizen authorized to work, they must provide the following information:
The date (month, date, and year) that their authorization to work expires.
One of the following:
Their USCIS Number or A-Number value
Their Form I-94 Admission Number (an 11-digit number issued by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol)
Their foreign passport number and country of issuance
Visa holders like J1 or H2B who enter the country without a Social Security number can check the "I don't have an SSN yet, but I have applied for it" checkbox to complete their I-9 form without an SSN. These workers will sit in the Pending Section 2 title of the I-9 Forms Table until they have an SNN entered in their Worker Profile.
Documentation
The next page will ask employees to select which document types they’ll be uploading in order to prove both their identity and their eligibility to work in the U.S.
The list of acceptable document types [3] allows for either:
One document that establishes both identity and employment authorization, such as a United States passport.
Two separate documents that each establish identity and employment authorization, such as a driver’s license and a Social Security card.
The document types that can be presented vary slightly based on citizenship status. For example, only U.S. citizens and noncitizen nationals can provide a U.S. Passport as a document. The Fountain I-9 Center will automatically show the document types they are allowed to select based on the answer to the previous Citizenship Status.
The document verification process begins after the worker selects the document types they want to provide for Section 1.
Fountain will then begin the document verification process by guiding the worker through capturing the photos or uploading previously saved images of the documents. The guidance provided will be based on the document types they originally selected.
The worker will also be given the option to continue on another device. This can be helpful if the worker started their I-9 form task on a desktop computer but needs to move to a mobile device to take pictures of the document(s). If the worker chooses to continue on another device, a QR code will be provided for them to scan, or they can request an email or SMS to continue.
Once the document images are uploaded, the document verification will begin. It will review the documents, including lifting the document numbers, confirm that the document matches the document type selected in the appropriate List A, B, and/or C, that the image is not blurry, and that the image is in frame.
There are two result screens that the worker could see:
Successful Verification: Confirms that the documents passed the associated checks. The worker will click Close to complete the verification.
Unsuccessful Verification: Fountain was unable to verify the document. In some scenarios, informational text will be displayed explaining why the document was not verified. For example, the document may be expired, fraudulent, blurry, or the correct document based on the List A, B, and/or C selection.
If the worker receives an unsuccessful verification, they will click either Try Again or I’m Submitting a Receipt.
If they choose to Try Again, they will have one additional attempt to submit the documentation. If the verification fails a second time, Fountain will inform the worker that we are unable to verify the document, but will allow the employee to manually enter the document information. They will then click Close to complete the verification.
Important Note:
Not all documents are supported by Document Verification. For documents not supported, the worker will have a simplified upload process as seen below. For a list of documents supported by Document Verification, review this article.
Preparer & Translator
The next page will ask the employee whether or not they used a preparer or translator to help them complete Section 1. If they did not, the employee will move forward without needing to provide additional information.
If they did use a preparer or translator, the preparer or translator will complete the following fields:
First Name
Middle Initial (if appliable)
Last Name
Address
City or Town
State
Zip Code
The preparer will also take legal responsibility for the information provided in the form by typing out their first and last name and signing it electronically.
Employee Signature
The final page will ask the employee to finalize Section 1 by electronically signing. This signature not only completes Section 1, but also indicates that legally, the employee has given truthful information and provided valid documents.
Next Steps
After Section 1 is completed, the employee can do the following in their Worker Portal:
View their submitted Section 1 answers.
Download a PDF of their filled-in form
Download images of their supporting documents
To learn about Section 2 completion, review this article.
Reviewing Outstanding Section 1 Employees
To view all of your employees who have not yet submitted their Section 1 form, follow the steps below:
Click I-9 Center in the left side panel.
Click the Pending Section 1 tile.
Review the Start Date column values to ensure completion for fast-approaching start dates.
If an employee is starting soon but has not yet submitted their Section 1 form, you can message them via their Worker Profile:
Click on the employee’s name in the I-9 table. This will be you to their Worker Profile.
Click on Message to open the message editor.
The email toggle will be on by default. Simply type a title and email message in the appropriate boxes.
To only send SMS and not an email, turn off the SMS toggle.
To send an SMS, click the SMS toggle to on. You can type your own SMS message or use the Generate SMS link to generate via AI.
Click Send when finished.
Reviewing Document Verification Results
On the I-9 Forms table in the I-9 Center, you’ll find details of the document verification result.
There are three statuses you can see:
Verified: The submission was successfully verified and there is no action needed by a Fountain user.
Unable to Verify: The submission was not successfully verified after the worker submitted their documents manually after two failed attempts. A Fountain user may need to take action.
Reviewed: The submission was unable to verify, but has been reviewed by a Fountain user.
Reviewing Result Details
To review the result details and take potential action, follow the steps below:
Find the worker in the I-9 Forms table and click Manage to the right of their name.
Click More Actions and then Document Verification.
You can also access Document Verification from the I-9 Forms table by clicking the 3 dots button to the right of a worker’s name.
Review the document. You can leave an optional comment in the Comments box based on your review.
Below the document is the Status box, where you can view the checks that were done and whether they passed or failed. Click Show Checks to expand and review the details.
Click Mark as Reviewed when finished with your review. The status will change to Reviewed by Admin.
Important Notes:
This review is only a confirmation that a user has reviewed the document and does not update the I-9 Form. If your company is utilizing I-9 Approval, a user will still need to mark the document as reviewed.
It is up to you, as the Employer of Record, to make the decision to accept any document(s) provided. Any checks that did not pass may or may not be an indication of fraud, mistake, or misrepresentation. It is at your discretion whether to proceed with employment, request a new submission, or terminate employment in consultation with your own internal counsel and the USCIS Handbook for Employers.
Try It Out!
Click the image below to launch an interactive walkthrough that includes the worker experience of completing Section 1. The walkthrough will also include the Authorized Representative experience, completing Section 2. Learn more about the Authorized Representative workflow by reading this article.
Sources
[1] Completing Form I-9: article with a graphic outlining each step of the I-9 form, and links with more information about each step
[2] Form I-9 instructions: detailed instructions for each step of the I-9 Section 1 form, including information on each citizenship status
[3] List of Acceptable Documents: expandable lists of accepted documents from each available list, along with information on each document type
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