We Verify Your Remote California Hire’s I-9 in Person, on Time

Yes — 434 Blossom Hill Road, San Jose, Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM. Your hire brings their original documents, we examine them in person, complete Section 2 and send the signed form to your HR team the same day. $90 flat per applicant.

National I-9 vendors sell a platform with a contract, per-seat pricing and a notary network. We charge $90 per applicant with no subscription, no minimum and no onboarding term, and the person examining the documents is our own staff rather than a subcontracted notary. For companies hiring a few people in California a year, that is usually the cheaper and simpler route.

Yes. You designate us in writing as your authorized representative, your hire comes to our office, and we handle the in-person examination your team cannot do from another state. We can also create the E-Verify case under your enrolment as a registered E-Verify Employer Agent, and we hold no ongoing contract with you.

Yes. Walk into our office at 434 Blossom Hill Road, Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM. Most I-9 verifications take 15 to 20 minutes and cost a flat $90 per applicant. Bring the original documents your employer listed and complete Section 1 beforehand.

Only if your company is enrolled in E-Verify and in good standing, under the DHS alternative procedure that became permanent on August 1, 2023. If you are not on E-Verify, the I-9 must be completed by in-person examination of the original documents — which is exactly what we provide.

California treats the Form I-9 as an immigration document. Under Bus. & Prof. Code §22440–22441 and Gov. Code §8223(c), a notary public who is not also a bonded immigration consultant may not complete an I-9 for compensation. Using one can void the verification while you remain liable.

Within three business days of the employee’s first day of work for pay (8 CFR §274a.2). If the person will work fewer than three days, the I-9 must be done by their first day. We schedule quickly to stay inside that window.

A flat $90 per applicant for verification at our San Jose office. If you need us to travel to your employee’s California location, we add a travel fee quoted by distance. Recurring hires can set up volume pricing on a net-30 standing account.

Yes. You remain the employer of record and stay legally responsible for the form, which is why it matters that your representative is qualified and legally authorized in California. We complete the verification accurately and to standard — but we do not provide legal advice or act as your attorney.

Possibly. Documents examined remotely under the COVID flexibility had to be physically re-inspected by March 31, 2026. That deadline has passed, so any of those I-9s that were never re-inspected in person are now audit-exposed. We can handle the in-person re-inspection for your California staff.

Federal law lets you designate any person to examine the documents and complete the I-9, and you remain fully liable for that person’s work. California is stricter: a paid representative who is not a licensed attorney or federally authorized representative must be a bonded immigration consultant registered with the Secretary of State (Bus. & Prof. Code §22441). Fingerscan Digital holds that bond, so we can lawfully serve as your representative.

Original, unexpired documents from the Form I-9 Lists of Acceptable Documents — either one List A document, or one List B plus one List C document. We must see the originals in person and watch your employee present them; emailed photos or mailed photocopies do not satisfy the requirement. We examine and record them on the form in real time.

Civil penalties run from $288 to $2,861 per form, even when the worker is authorized to work (current Federal Register adjustment). In March 2026, ICE reclassified several remote-verification errors from technical to substantive, so they can no longer be fixed with the usual 10-day correction notice after an audit. Completing the I-9 correctly and on time is the only reliable protection.

Yes. Fingerscan Digital is a registered E-Verify Employer Agent, so we can submit the case on your behalf rather than you maintaining an account, an MOU and a trained user. For a remote California hire that means one vendor from document inspection through federal confirmation: we examine the originals in person, complete Section 2 as your authorized representative, then create the E-Verify case — inside the three-business-day window.

Most cases return Employment Authorized within seconds. Some return a tentative nonconfirmation, which is not a denial — it means the information did not match SSA or DHS records, and there is a defined process for the employee to resolve it. We will not promise an instant answer on every case, because that is not how the system works. What we do is create the case correctly and on time.

No, and in California this matters. A case may only be created for someone who has accepted an offer of employment. Running E-Verify on an applicant, or on an existing employee outside the narrow federal-contract exception, breaches California Labor Code §2814 — a civil penalty of up to $10,000, with each unlawful use counted separately. If a provider offers to screen your applicants, that is a reason to walk away.

For most California private employers it is voluntary. It is mandatory if you hold a federal contract carrying the FAR E-Verify clause, and several states — Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Florida among them — require it for employers operating there. Companies hiring across state lines usually discover this late. The Form I-9 itself is required for every hire either way.

Yes. We complete the in-person I-9, and for the same California hire we can roll FD-258 fingerprint cards and submit a Channeler-network FBI background check — one accountable provider for the in-person steps of out-of-state onboarding.