{"id":6317,"date":"2026-06-17T07:32:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T12:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.employco.com\/blog\/?p=6317"},"modified":"2026-06-17T07:32:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T12:32:58","slug":"hr-newsletter-best-practices-to-prepare-for-form-i-9-audits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.employco.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/17\/hr-newsletter-best-practices-to-prepare-for-form-i-9-audits\/","title":{"rendered":"HR Newsletter: Best Practices to Prepare for Form I-9 Audits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.employco.com\/images\/newsletter\/HR\/Blog\/October2022_DHS.jpg\" alt=\"HR Newsletter: Best Practices to Prepare for Form I-9 Audits\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Federal law requires employers to hire only individuals who may legally work in the United States\u2014either U.S. citizens or authorized foreign nationals. To comply with the law, employers must verify the identity and employment authorization of each individual they hire by completing and retaining the Employment Eligibility Verification form (Form I-9). Employers must have a completed Form I-9 for every employee hired after Nov. 6, 1986.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>To monitor employers\u2019 compliance with Form I-9 obligations, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conduct audits. These audits\u2014also known as inspections\u2014are often an in-depth review of an employer\u2019s completed Forms I-9 and supporting documents for current and former employees. Recently, the federal government has greatly increased Form I-9 audits, exposing more employers to fines and penalties for Form I-9 violations. As a result, it\u2019s important that employers understand the basics of a Form I-9 audit and how to properly prepare for a government audit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our Compliance Overview provides employers with a broad overview of Form I-9 audits to help them comply with legal requirements and reduce the risk of costly civil and criminal penalties: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.employco.com\/PDFs\/June2026_Compliance-Overview.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Best Practices to Prepare for Form I-9 Audits<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.employco.com\/PDFs\/June2026_Compliance-Overview.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.employco.com\/images\/newsletter\/hr\/Blog\/June2026_Compliance-Overview-PDF.jpg\" alt=\"Best Practices to Prepare for Form I-9 Audits\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Federal law requires employers to hire only individuals who may legally work in the United States\u2014either U.S. citizens or authorized foreign nationals. To comply with the law, employers must verify the identity and employment authorization of each individual they hire&hellip;  <\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.employco.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/17\/hr-newsletter-best-practices-to-prepare-for-form-i-9-audits\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hr-newsletter"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Employco USA","author_link":"https:\/\/www.employco.com\/blog\/author\/employcousa\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>HR Newsletter: Best Practices to Prepare for Form I-9 Audits - Employco Blog<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.employco.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/17\/hr-newsletter-best-practices-to-prepare-for-form-i-9-audits\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HR Newsletter: Best Practices to Prepare for Form I-9 Audits - Employco Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Federal law requires employers to hire only individuals who may legally work in the United States\u2014either U.S. citizens or authorized foreign nationals. To comply with the law, employers must verify the identity and employment authorization of each individual they hire&hellip; Continue reading &rarr;\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.employco.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/17\/hr-newsletter-best-practices-to-prepare-for-form-i-9-audits\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Employco Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Employco\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-17T12:32:55+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-17T12:32:58+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.employco.com\/images\/newsletter\/HR\/Blog\/October2022_DHS.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Employco USA\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@employco\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@employco\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Employco USA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.employco.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/17\\\/hr-newsletter-best-practices-to-prepare-for-form-i-9-audits\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.employco.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/17\\\/hr-newsletter-best-practices-to-prepare-for-form-i-9-audits\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Employco USA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.employco.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c5a99be12eccf56ad10d0301c213414\"},\"headline\":\"HR Newsletter: Best Practices to Prepare for Form I-9 Audits\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T12:32:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-17T12:32:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.employco.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/17\\\/hr-newsletter-best-practices-to-prepare-for-form-i-9-audits\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":212,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.employco.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/17\\\/hr-newsletter-best-practices-to-prepare-for-form-i-9-audits\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.employco.com\\\/images\\\/newsletter\\\/HR\\\/Blog\\\/October2022_DHS.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"HR Newsletter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.employco.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/17\\\/hr-newsletter-best-practices-to-prepare-for-form-i-9-audits\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.employco.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/17\\\/hr-newsletter-best-practices-to-prepare-for-form-i-9-audits\\\/\",\"name\":\"HR Newsletter: Best Practices to Prepare for Form I-9 Audits - 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