Florida E-Verify and Form I-9: Who Must Verify Your New Hire?

Every employer hiring an employee to work in Florida must complete the federal Form I-9 process. Florida also requires E-Verify for public agencies and private employers that reach the 25-employee threshold; contractors and subcontractors on public-agency contracts have a separate E-Verify obligation. E-Verify uses information from Form I-9. It does not replace it.

For an overseas company, the harder question is often who does the work. A direct employer, an Employer of Record (EOR) and a professional employer organization (PEO) do not have the same legal structure. This guide follows a Florida hire from deciding whether E-Verify applies through the first days of onboarding, then separates the responsibilities under each model. Reviewed 16 October 2026.

Form I-9 comes first

Form I-9 records an employee’s identity and authorization to work in the United States. The employee completes one part; the employer or its authorized representative examines the employee’s chosen documents and completes the other. This federal process applies to employees hired for U.S. work regardless of citizenship or employer size.

E-Verify is the additional electronic comparison of information from a completed I-9 against government records. A participating employer creates a case after completing the form, not instead of completing it. It is a new-hire process, not a way to screen job applicants before an offer is accepted.

When Florida requires E-Verify

Under Florida Statutes §448.095, public agencies use E-Verify for new employees. Private employers with 25 or more employees must use it for new hires. A smaller private employer still completes Form I-9, even when the state headcount rule does not require an E-Verify case.

The location and timing of the count matter. The Florida Department of Revenue’s published guidance uses employees performing services in Florida and says the incoming employee must be E-Verified if that person will be the 25th or later Florida worker at the time of verification. Picture a company with 24 employees performing services in Florida. If its next hire will be number 25, the company should have its E-Verify process ready for that hire, not begin enrollment after the person starts. Employees of related companies are not automatically combined; the department identifies an exception for an authorized common paymaster.

This is a count of employees under the Florida provision, not a casual tally of everyone with a company email. The statute defines an employee by a permanent position and the employer’s right to direct the material details of the work; it excludes genuine independent contractors and specified casual domestic labor. A job’s title or invoice label does not decide that classification.

Headcount is not the only trigger. A Florida public agency’s contract must require its contractor and subcontractors to register with and use E-Verify for their new employees. That contract rule is not limited to contractors with 25 workers. Federal contracts can bring separate E-Verify terms, so a company doing government work needs to identify the actual contract clause as well as the Florida rule.

The first three business days

Employment verification begins after the offer is accepted. The start date and the person assigned to examine documents should already be clear before the employee begins work for pay.

1. By the first day of paid work: the employee completes and signs Section 1 of Form I-9.
2. Generally within three business days after that first day: the employer or an authorized representative examines acceptable documents and completes Section 2. The employee chooses either one List A document or an allowed List B and List C combination. For employment lasting fewer than three business days, Section 2 is due on the first day.
3. If E-Verify applies: create the case from the completed I-9 no later than the third business day after the employee starts work for pay.

Those are the USCIS I-9 deadlines and document rules and the E-Verify case deadline. The employer cannot require a particular passport, immigration document or other item from the lists simply because one is easier to process. For E-Verify employers, a List B document must include a photograph.

Keep the records on their own clocks. Federal law requires the completed I-9 to be retained until three years after hire or one year after employment ends, whichever is later. Florida separately requires a copy of the documentation provided and any official verification generated, if applicable, to be kept for at least three years. Do not treat an E-Verify case result as the entire personnel record.

A remote employee still needs document examination

A Florida employee working from home does not need to travel to the employer’s office just to complete Section 2. One route is to designate an authorized representative near the employee to examine the documents in person and sign on the employer’s behalf. The USCIS instructions make the employer responsible for violations committed by that representative.

A different route is the DHS alternative procedure for remote examination. It is available to E-Verify participants in good standing at enrolled hiring sites. The employer receives document copies, examines them, holds a live video interaction in which the employee presents the same documents, marks the I-9 for the alternative procedure and retains clear copies. The procedure has consistency and anti-discrimination conditions. A video call or uploaded photograph alone is not a general substitute for physical examination if the employer does not qualify for this procedure.

Who handles verification under each employment model?

The practical work can be delegated. The legal identity of the hiring employer cannot be settled by writing “verification included” on a proposal. Federal E-Verify guidance for staffing arrangements ties case creation to the organization required to complete Form I-9 as the hiring employer. An E-Verify employer agent can run cases for a client employer, but using an agent does not itself change who hired the worker.

Florida’s Department of Revenue treats PEOs and employee-leasing companies together in its guidance. It also says a regular agent or management company cannot sign the employer’s annual E-Verify certification for it. A covered employer certifies on its first Florida reemployment tax return filed each calendar year; when a licensed leasing arrangement shifts responsibility to the client by written agreement, the client certifies. That is a separate task from opening an individual worker’s E-Verify case.

For a company employing through its own entity, the employment-verification question sits beside the different payroll issues covered in NNRoad’s Florida payroll guide. For an entity-free EOR hire, the important point is to identify the employing entity and the actual I-9/E-Verify workflow before giving the candidate a start date. Do not apply Florida’s licensed-PEO written-agreement rule to every EOR arrangement merely because both involve a provider.

With an EOR, the client does not have to run the employing entity’s verification process itself. NNRoad’s U.S. EOR service coordinates I-9 administration as part of onboarding, while the client supplies accurate hire information and manages the employee’s day-to-day work. The employing entity handles the verification steps that apply to the hire.

A mismatch is not an immediate work ban

An E-Verify Tentative Nonconfirmation, often called a mismatch, means the submitted information did not match DHS or Social Security Administration records. It does not by itself mean the person lacks work authorization. Even a data-entry error or an unreported name change can produce one.

The official mismatch process requires the employer to notify the employee privately and provide a Further Action Notice. The employee has up to 10 federal government working days from the mismatch result to say whether they will take action. After referral, the notice gives the employee the date to contact DHS or SSA, generally within eight federal government working days. While the case is pending and the employee is taking action, the employer cannot fire, suspend, withhold pay or delay training solely because of the mismatch. A provider and client therefore need one agreed contact path; neither should improvise a termination decision from an interim case result.

Set the handoff before the employee starts

A useful Florida onboarding plan answers six questions before the first paid day:

1. Which entity is hiring the worker, and where will the work actually be performed?
2. Does that employer meet Florida’s 25-worker test or have a public-agency contract requiring E-Verify?
3. Who will examine the employee’s chosen documents, and is the examination in person or under the qualifying remote procedure?
4. Whose E-Verify enrollment will be used, and who creates and follows the case?
5. Who gives a Further Action Notice if needed, and who retains the I-9, document copies and case records?
6. If Florida annual certification is required, which authorized employer or leasing-company officer will sign it?

The answer should appear in the onboarding workflow and, where a provider is involved, in the service agreement. That way the employee receives one set of instructions and the hiring team knows who has the record if a regulator requests it.

Frequently asked questions