Completing an I-9

This will instruct you in the minimum requirements necessary for completion of the I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification for Cornell students who are United States Citizens or Permanent Residents. All others need to be sent to Library Human Resources in 235 Olin Library.

Students are required to fill out an I-9 because of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. This Act created a national employment verification system, which places the responsibility for verification of the identity and employment eligibility of all employees on the employer.

I-9’s only need to be completed once as long as the employee remains a student and does not have a break in employment service of a year or more. If the student is unsure if they have completed an I-9 you can verify by calling 5-7021 or looking up their eligibility in the Student Employment System.

Section 1 – TO BE COMPLETED BY THE EMPLOYEE

This section must be completed by the new hire in your presence. Permanent Residents need to fill in their resident number that is located on their I-551 (commonly referred to as a “green card”).

Section 2 – TO BE COMPLETED BY THE EMPLOYER

The most common form of documentation used by students at Cornell is:

LIST A LIST B LIST C US Passport for Permanent Resident I-551 Drivers License or Cornell ID Social Security Card or Birth Certificate

YOU MUST SIGN AND DATE EVERY I-9 REGARDLESS OF THE STUDENT STATUS.

If you have any questions concerning the I-9 form or a particular student’s documentation, feel free to call Library Human Resources at 5-7021. Of course,
you may always send the student to our office to have their I-9 completed.

Please remember that YOU MUST SEE ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS. YOU CANNOT ACCEPT COPIES AS PROOF. If the student does not have an I-9 on file they cannot be appointed and will not get paid. Remind the student that they still need to come to Library Human Resources to fill out tax forms and sign up for direct deposit.

Send the original copy of the I-9 to the Student Employment Office (203 Day Hall) and send a copy of the I-9 and the application to Library Human Resources (235 Olin Library).