Does a USCIS A-Number Change? What Actually Changes on New Cards
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Form I-9 penalties are assessed per form. For penalties assessed after July 3, 2025, each paperwork violation carries a civil fine of $288 to $2,861 under 28 CFR 85.5. ICE's Form I-9 Inspection fact sheet dated March 16, 2026 also moved several common omissions from technical to substantive, including a missing hire date in Section 2, an undated Section 2 certification, a missing employer title, and a missing rehire date in Supplement B. Substantive violations are fined without the 10-business-day correction window that technical violations get.
Electronic I-9 software prevents a specific subset of those violations, mainly blank required fields, missed deadlines, and missed reverifications. Document examination and the decision about whether a worker is authorized stay with the employer. A system that doesn't meet the electronic-records standards in 8 CFR 274a.2(e) through (i) is a substantive violation of its own. The tables below map each violation type to what software does about it and what still depends on the people using it.
Fines come from the civil penalty table in 28 CFR 85.5, which the Department of Justice adjusts for inflation. These amounts apply to penalties assessed after July 3, 2025.
| Violation | Statute | Fine range |
|---|---|---|
| Paperwork violation (per Form I-9) | 8 U.S.C. 1324a(e)(5) | $288–$2,861 |
| Knowingly hiring or continuing to employ an unauthorized worker, first order (per worker) | 8 U.S.C. 1324a(e)(4)(A)(i) | $716–$5,724 |
| Same, second order (per worker) | 8 U.S.C. 1324a(e)(4)(A)(ii) | $5,724–$14,308 |
| Same, subsequent order (per worker) | 8 U.S.C. 1324a(e)(4)(A)(iii) | $8,586–$28,619 |
| E-Verify employer fails to notify DHS of a final nonconfirmation (per worker) | 8 U.S.C. 1324a note | $998–$1,992 |
ICE sets the base paperwork fine from a violation rate, calculated as substantive violations plus uncorrected technical violations divided by the number of Forms I-9 that should have been presented. Five statutory factors (business size, good faith, seriousness, whether unauthorized workers were involved, and violation history) then move the base up or down by as much as 5 percent each. A lower error rate puts the employer in a lower base tier, which is where software has its most direct effect on the dollar amount. The full fine matrix is in I-9 Penalties in 2026.
Each row is a violation on the March 2026 ICE list. The middle column is what an electronic I-9 system does about it, and the right-hand column is what still depends on the person completing the form.
| Violation (ICE classification) | What software does | What still depends on people |
|---|---|---|
| Blank required field in Section 1 (legal name, date of birth, status box, signature, date). Substantive. | Blocks submission until required fields are complete. Shows the A-Number, I-94, or passport fields that match the status box the employee checked. | The employee enters and attests to their own information. The employer can't complete Section 1 for them. |
| Section 1 not completed by the first day of employment. Substantive. | Sends the Section 1 invitation and reminders tied to the start date. Flags incomplete Section 1 on a dashboard. | HR sends the invitation before the start date and follows up on it. |
| Section 2 not completed within 3 business days of the start date. Substantive. | Calculates the deadline from the start date and escalates as it approaches. | Someone examines the documents inside that window, in person or under the DHS alternative procedure. |
| Missing document title, issuing authority, number, or expiration date in Section 2. Substantive. | Limits choices to one List A document or a List B plus List C pair. Requires each document field. Flags documents that appear expired when entered. | The examiner types what's printed on the document. Software can't confirm that the number matches the card. |
| Missing hire date, employer name and title, signature, or date in the Section 2 certification. Substantive (hire date, title, and date reclassified in March 2026). | Requires every certification field. Captures the employer's electronic signature at the time of the transaction under 8 CFR 274a.2(i). | The person signing is the person who examined the documents. |
| Alternative procedure box not checked, or employer not an E-Verify participant. Substantive. | Records the examination method and can restrict the alternative procedure to E-Verify-enrolled accounts. | The employer is enrolled in E-Verify and in good standing. |
| Receipt not replaced with the actual document within 90 days. Substantive. | Tracks each receipt and alerts before the 90-day window closes. | The employee presents the replacement document, and HR records it. |
| Supplement B not completed by the work-authorization expiration date. Substantive. | Alerts on expiring Section 1 dates and expiring List A or List C documents. | HR completes Supplement B on or before the date. The employee chooses the document. |
| Missing rehire date in Supplement B. Substantive (reclassified in March 2026). | Requires the rehire date whenever a rehire block is used. | Nothing beyond entering the correct date. |
| Preparer or translator missing name, address, signature, or date. Substantive (reclassified in March 2026). | Requires the Supplement A fields when the employee indicates a preparer or translator helped. | The person listed is the person who actually helped. |
| Form I-9 not presented for inspection. Substantive. | Indexed search and export of the requested forms, supplements, and document copies. | Someone runs the export and delivers it within the Notice of Inspection deadline, which is at least 3 business days. |
| Outdated Form I-9 edition. Technical. | The vendor keeps the current edition in the system. | Nothing, if the system is maintained. |
Most of what software prevents falls under completeness and timing, which covers the bulk of the errors ICE reclassified in March 2026. Accuracy is harder to automate, because an accurate Form I-9 depends on what the examiner typed from the document in front of them. Form I-9 Section 2: The Mistakes ICE Now Treats as Substantive covers the accuracy side field by field.
The fine calculation starts with your violation rate. Our free I-9 Risk Calculator estimates paperwork exposure from your headcount and error rate, and our compliance team can review a sample of your Forms I-9 against the March 2026 substantive list on a free compliance call.
Document examination stays with the employer. Under 8 CFR 274a.2(b)(1)(ii)(A), the employer physically examines each document (or examines it under the DHS alternative procedure) and decides whether it reasonably appears to be genuine and to relate to the person presenting it. An electronic system can confirm that a List A document was selected and that its expiration date hasn't passed. It can't confirm that the card in the examiner's hand is real. i9 Intelligence doesn't use automated authenticity matching for this reason; a trained reviewer applies the "reasonably appears genuine" standard.
Software also doesn't change what the employer knows. The knowing-hire penalties above apply to actual knowledge and to constructive knowledge, which 8 CFR 274a.1(l) defines as knowledge that "may fairly be inferred through notice of certain facts and circumstances which would lead a person, through the exercise of reasonable care, to know about a certain condition." A clean electronic Form I-9 doesn't cancel out information the employer already has indicating a worker isn't authorized. E-Verify adds a rebuttable presumption that the employer didn't knowingly hire an unauthorized worker in any case where E-Verify confirmed employment eligibility and the employer followed Form I-9 and E-Verify procedures. That presumption doesn't extend to paperwork violations.
Anti-discrimination rules apply to how the system is used. Software can present the full Lists of Acceptable Documents and let the employee choose. A manager who asks a new hire for a specific document, or asks a noncitizen for more documents than the form requires, still creates exposure under 8 U.S.C. 1324b, which the DOJ Immigrant and Employee Rights Section enforces. A system configured to require one particular document, such as a driver's license, creates the same problem on every hire.
The March 2026 fact sheet lists failure to meet the electronic-records standards in 8 CFR 274a.2(e) through (i) as a substantive violation. Most of the software-related problems we find in I-9 audits come from configuration choices or from data moving between systems.
| Risk | Rule it runs into | What to check in your system |
|---|---|---|
| Section 1 pre-filled from ATS or HCM data | The employee completes Section 1 and signs the attestation (8 CFR 274a.2(b)(1)(i)(A)). Anyone else who fills it in is a preparer who must complete Supplement A. | Whether the employee enters Section 1 data or only confirms data someone else entered. See HCM Section 1 auto-fill and the March 2026 rules. |
| No audit trail, or one that can be edited | 8 CFR 274a.2(e)(1)(ii) requires controls that prevent and detect unauthorized alteration or deletion. 8 CFR 274a.2(f)(1)(iii) requires documentation of the business processes that establish integrity, such as audit trails. | Whether every change to a completed Form I-9 records who made it and when, and whether that log is locked. |
| Forms and attachments split across two systems | 8 CFR 274a.2(e)(1)(iv) and (e)(6) require an indexing system that retrieves the form and its supporting documents. | Whether one search returns the complete Form I-9 with Supplement A, Supplement B, and document copies. See storing Forms I-9 in multiple systems. |
| Electronic signatures that don't meet the standard | 8 CFR 274a.2(h)(1) requires the signature to be affixed at the time of the transaction and a record verifying the identity of the signer. Paragraph (i) sets the same standard for the employer. | Whether the system can show when and by whom each attestation was signed. |
| Remote examination by an employer not enrolled in E-Verify | The DHS alternative procedure is limited to E-Verify employers in good standing, apart from a separate DHS pilot for non-E-Verify employers that the March 2026 fact sheet references. The fact sheet lists remote examination without E-Verify participation as substantive. | Whether remote examination is available on accounts that aren't enrolled in E-Verify. |
| E-Verify cases created late | E-Verify cases must be created no later than the third business day after the employee starts work for pay. | Whether the case is created from the Form I-9 data automatically or depends on someone re-keying it into E-Verify. |
| Retention dates calculated from missing termination data | Keep each form until the later of 3 years after the date of hire or 1 year after employment ends (8 CFR 274a.2(b)(2)(i)(A)). | Whether termination dates reach the I-9 system when they happen. See the retention and purge playbook. |
The full list of electronic-records requirements, paragraph by paragraph, is on our electronic I-9 compliance standards page.
Moving to an electronic system prevents errors on the forms completed after the switch. Forms I-9 already on file keep whatever errors they have, including forms migrated from paper or from another system. Under M-274 Section 9, the person correcting the form draws a line through the incorrect information, enters the correct information, and initials and dates the change, with a written explanation attached. Only the employee, or the preparer or translator who helped them, corrects Section 1. Never backdate a correction. An internal audit before or during migration is how employers find these forms; the I-9 self-audit playbook walks through sampling, classification, and the correction protocol.
"When we audit Forms I-9 that were completed in software, the blank fields are mostly gone. What's left is what a person typed. We see document numbers with two digits transposed, expiration dates copied from the wrong card, and Supplement B alerts that kept going to the inbox of an HR coordinator who had left the company months earlier. The software did its job on every one of those, and the alert still needed an owner," says Patricia Duarte, Director of Compliance at i9 Intelligence.
i9 Intelligence has specialized in Form I-9 and E-Verify compliance since 1998. If you want a second set of eyes on your current system or a sample of your forms, we do this every day.
Phone: (713) 668-6200 (Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM CT)
Email: support@i-9intelligence.com
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Blank required fields in Section 1, Section 2, and Supplements A and B; document combinations that don't satisfy the lists (two List B documents, for example); documents that appear expired when entered (some, such as EADs under a USCIS automatic extension, remain acceptable with the supporting notice); and deadlines, including the 3-business-day Section 2 window, 90-day receipt periods, and reverification dates. Software doesn't catch a document number that looks valid but was typed wrong.
Most electronic I-9 systems do, driven by the expiration date in Section 1 and the expiration dates of List A or List C documents. Reverification is never required for U.S. citizens or noncitizen nationals, or when a U.S. passport, U.S. passport card, Permanent Resident Card, or List B document expires (M-274 Section 6). A system that flags those for reverification is misconfigured, and acting on the alert can create a discrimination issue.
No. Software prevents errors going forward. Errors on existing Forms I-9 are corrected by hand under M-274 Section 9 (line through, correct entry, initials, date, and a written explanation), and only the employee or their preparer or translator corrects Section 1. A self-audit identifies which forms need correction.
Partly. When an employer follows Form I-9 and E-Verify procedures, E-Verify creates a rebuttable presumption that the employer didn't knowingly hire an unauthorized worker in cases where E-Verify confirmed employment eligibility. It doesn't protect against paperwork violations, and an E-Verify employer that fails to notify DHS of a final nonconfirmation faces a separate fine of $998 to $1,992 per worker.
Common models are per hire, per active employee, per user seat, per location, or bundled into an HCM subscription. i9 Intelligence prices per hire, with no seat or location fees; details are on our pricing page.
No. Paper Forms I-9 with handwritten signatures remain acceptable. An employer that completes or stores Forms I-9 electronically has to meet the standards in 8 CFR 274a.2(e) through (i), covering integrity controls, indexing and retrieval, documentation, security, and electronic signatures.