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Every US employer must verify a new employee’s identity and authorization to work using Form I-9. Bolto manages the whole form in-app: the employee completes Section 1, you review their documents and sign Section 2, and the completed form is stored on their profile. I-9 verification is included with Bolto Payroll — you choose per employee whether to require it, via the “Require I-9 verification” checkbox when adding (or converting) the employee.

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The deadlines

Federal rules set the timeline, and Bolto tracks it for you:
  • Section 1 (employee) — due by their first day of work
  • Section 2 (employer) — due within 3 business days of the start date
Bolto computes each due date, creates tasks for the right people, and sends reminder emails automatically. An incomplete I-9 never blocks payroll or the rest of onboarding — the deadline tracking and reminders are the enforcement.

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How it works

1

Employee completes Section 1

During onboarding (or later from their Documents page), the employee fills in Section 1 — attesting to their work authorization using details from their identity and work-authorization documents. On submit they see confirmation that their part is done.
2

You review and sign Section 2

From the employee’s profile → Documents → I-9 verification, click Review Section 1 & sign Section 2. You’ll see Section 1 read-only, then examine the employee’s original documents and complete and sign Section 2 inline.
3

The completed form is stored

The verified I-9 shows as Accepted, with the document viewable and downloadable from the employee’s profile — and visible to the employee in their own portal.
The I-9 detail page shows a progress timeline (Initiated → Section 1 → Section 2) with dates, and warns you when an employee’s work authorization document expires within 60 days.

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Statuses

I-9 status also appears as a column on the Employees list, so you can scan the whole team at a glance.

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Admin actions

From the I-9 page you can, depending on status:
  • Initiate — start the I-9 manually (it also starts automatically when a new hire with I-9 required completes onboarding)
  • Resend invitation — re-email the employee while their Section 1 is outstanding
  • Restart I-9 — after a rejection (or to re-open one marked not required), triggers a fresh verification
  • Mark not required — for employees who don’t need an I-9; reversible via Restart
  • Upload I-9 — for migrated employees who completed an I-9 before joining Bolto, upload the existing form instead (it’s then stored as Completed)
I-9 actions and Section 2 signing are owner-only; other roles can view and download the stored form.

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Reminders

Bolto sends reminder emails automatically so deadlines aren’t missed:
  • To the employee for Section 1 — ahead of their start date, on the due date, and continuing periodically until it’s done
  • To company owners for Section 2 — before the 3-business-day deadline, on it, and after, until signed
  • To the employee when a work-authorization document is expiring — at 60, 30, 14, and 7 days out
Matching to-dos appear in Tasks with the same due dates, deep-linked to the right page.