Do You Need a Notary for Form I-9? What HR Should Do Instead
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Remote I-9 verification costs anywhere from $0 to about $150 per hire, and the price tracks who's examining the documents. Your own HR staff on video costs only their time. Payroll platforms charge around $20 for a reviewer your hire picks, managed services with trained specialists run $25 to $95, and a mobile notary runs $50 to $150 before travel.
The quote is the easy part to compare. A Section 2 done wrong costs $288 to $2,861 per form in paperwork fines, and the fine goes to the employer no matter who completed it. These are the published prices as of October 2026, and what each one actually covers.
| Option | Price per hire | Who examines the documents |
|---|---|---|
| Your HR staff or a manager, on video | $0 beyond staff time (E-Verify required) | Your team |
| Gusto authorized representative | $20 on Simple and Plus plans, plus $5 per E-Verify case; included on Premium | A person the new hire chooses, in person |
| WorkBright+ | $25 per I-9 with a $25,000 annual minimum | WorkBright, as part of its full I-9 management service |
| Mobile notary | About $50–$150, often plus travel | A notary, in person |
| Equifax I-9 Anywhere | $95 per appointment on monthly plans | A representative in Equifax's network |
| i9 Intelligence | $50 with the E-Verify case included, no minimum | Our US-based I-9 specialists, on video |
Vendor prices come from each company's own pricing pages (Gusto, WorkBright+, Equifax I-9 Anywhere). Notary fees vary by state and distance. i9 Intelligence customers can also have a person the hire chooses complete Section 2 at no extra charge, on every plan.
The biggest difference is who's looking at the documents. A reviewer the new hire picks is usually a friend or relative who wants them to get the job, which is why a growing number of compliance teams at larger employers won't allow it. That person has never seen an automatically extended EAD or a foreign passport paired with Form I-94, and they won't notice a borrowed ID. A trained specialist with no connection to the hire will, and E-Verify photo matching on U.S. passports, green cards, and work permits backs them up.
WorkBright+ is priced at $25 per I-9 against a $25,000 annual minimum, which covers 1,000 hires. At 200 hires a year, the minimum works out to $125 per I-9. Ours is $50 per completed verification with no minimum, and volume pricing starts at 500 hires a year.
Your own staff is the cheapest line on the table until the deadline slips. Section 2 is due within three business days of the first day of work, and a manager who does a remote I-9 twice a year has to schedule the call, examine the documents, check the alternative procedure box, save the copies, and run E-Verify. Each of those steps is a separate place to make a mistake.
The new hire gets an email link, uploads their documents, and video-calls one of our US-based I-9 specialists from their phone, and they can book the same day. We examine the originals against the uploads, complete Section 2, and run E-Verify with photo match, and you only pay when the verification is done. Our remote I-9 verification page walks through the whole call.
Every call is handled by our own US-based compliance team, at a company that's specialized in I-9 and E-Verify since 1998. About 90% of our calls happen on the new hire's phone, with no Zoom or Teams link to send and no account for them to set up. The specialist checks the documents against Section 1 and the uploaded copies, completes Section 2, marks the alternative procedure box, and runs the E-Verify case with photo match. Copies, results, and the audit trail land in your account.
Plenty of our customers have managers handle in-person hires at a warehouse or store and send remote hires to our team, so they only pay $50 on the I-9s that need it.
"The cheapest remote I-9 is the one you never have to fix," says Jed Butler, CEO of i9 Intelligence. "We price per completed verification with no minimum, so a company with ten remote hires a year pays for ten, and every one of them is done by someone who looks at I-9 documents all day."
A small company with a trained HR person, E-Verify enrollment, and a handful of remote hires a year can run the video calls itself for nothing more than staff time. Companies with regular remote hiring and nobody trained near the new hires get the most from a specialist service, and that's where our $50 earns its place. Employers hiring 500 or more people remotely a year should ask about volume pricing, because the per-hire rate drops.
Mobile notaries are the hardest option to justify, because they cost more than a specialist, they aren't trained on I-9 documents, and California notaries who aren't bonded immigration consultants can't complete the form at all. Our guide to I-9 notaries covers the details.
It can cost nothing but staff time. Employers enrolled in E-Verify can have their own staff examine documents over live video under the DHS alternative procedure. Paying for a service buys trained reviewers and takes the scheduling off your team.
The price follows the person on the other end of the call. At $20, the reviewer is usually someone your hire knows. At $50 to $95, it's a trained representative, and the questions to ask are whether that person works for the vendor, whether E-Verify photo match is included, and whether there's a minimum.
With i9 Intelligence, you're billed on completed verifications. Other vendors set their own rules, so ask before you sign.
For video examination, yes. The DHS alternative procedure is only open to employers enrolled in E-Verify and in good standing. Not enrolled yet? We can enroll you and act as your E-Verify employer agent at no extra cost. Our remote I-9 verification guide covers both paths.
Send us your remote hiring numbers and we'll price it both ways, your staff on video and our team, so you can see which costs less. Book a free compliance call and you'll talk with our compliance team directly.
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