Paper Form I-9 check for under 100 forms: not open yet
We plan a self-serve check of scanned paper Form I-9s for employers with fewer than 100 forms. It would read page 1 of each form (Sections 1 and 2). ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) lists some errors as substantive violations in its Form I-9 Inspection fact sheet. These are errors that can bring a fine, not the small ones ICE lets you correct. The check would flag entries that match them. It would read only forms on the 01/20/25 and 08/01/23 editions. It covers the federal Form I-9 only, not state hiring rules. Planned price: $4 per form, first 10 forms free. Nobody pays anything now.
The service is not open, and we do not accept any forms, by email or otherwise. To hear when it opens, email support@aokenlabs.com. Include your company name, roughly how many paper I-9s you keep, and, if you know, the edition dates printed at the bottom of them. We keep your email as support mail, as our privacy page describes. We use it only to reply and to tell you when the check opens. Please do not attach or send any Form I-9 or any employee details.
If you keep 100 or more forms
WorkBright, a company that sells Form I-9 software, offers a free audit of 100 Form I-9s. Its page says the offer is for employers with 100 or more forms on file. It lists an error report and a guide to fixing errors, and it starts with a 15-minute call. If you have 100 or more forms, look at that offer first. With fewer than 100, it does not apply. If you still prefer our check, it would take more forms at the same price. We are not connected to WorkBright.
Why it is not open yet
A Form I-9 holds an employee's date of birth and identity document numbers, and often a Social Security number. We will only accept forms after a separate legal review of how this employee data is handled. If that review allows it, this is the plan we would follow. It is not in force, and it may change after the review.
- You would upload forms in your browser. Forms would never be sent by email.
- Anthropic's Claude AI model would read each form once. What Anthropic keeps is set by its own terms, which we would show you before any upload.
- We would delete each uploaded scan as soon as its report is built, within 24 hours at most.
- Our report would not show or keep numbers such as the Social Security number, A-number (Alien Registration Number) and document numbers. It would say only whether each one is filled in.
- No person at Aoken Labs would open your forms or reports. You would download the report yourself, and we would delete it after 30 days.
What the check does and does not do
- It would compare page 1 of each form against ICE's published fact sheet and name the fact sheet date it used. It would cover the two editions USCIS still lets employers use: the current one (edition date 01/20/25) and the one dated 08/01/23. The edition date is printed at the bottom of each page. Forms on editions older than 08/01/23 would not be checked. This is about which forms the check could read, not whether a form is valid.
- It is not legal advice. ICE decides what counts as a violation.
- A report with no errors would not mean your forms are correct or would pass an inspection.
- Using our check would not move any responsibility to us. ICE and the US Justice Department say that an employer who uses an outside auditor remains liable for any violations.
- It would not check Supplement A (preparer and translator) or Supplement B (reverification and rehires), or whether the documents shown to you were genuine.
What changed at ICE
ICE's Form I-9 Inspection fact sheet was last updated on August 31, 2026. It lists late completion of Section 1 or Section 2 as a substantive violation, and also missing dates, signatures or document details. The fact sheet calls smaller mistakes technical or procedural failures. For those, it says the employer gets at least 10 business days to correct them.
The law firm Alston & Bird wrote on October 1, 2026 about an earlier ICE update of March 16, 2026. It reports that this update moved 17 common errors from technical failures to substantive violations. It says the August 31 version does not move any more errors. It puts the fines for these errors at $288 to $2,861 per form, the current Justice Department range for paperwork violations.
If you correct a form
You make any corrections yourself. In December 2015, ICE and the US Justice Department published guidance for employers who audit their own Forms I-9. It says:
- The employer may not correct Section 1. The employee corrects it, with a preparer or translator if needed.
- Draw a line through the wrong entry, write the correct one, and initial and date the change. Do not erase or use correction fluid.
- Never backdate a form. Attach a signed and dated note that explains the changes.
- If you check only some forms, choose them by neutral rules, never by citizenship or national origin.
- Do not ask an employee for specific documents. The employee chooses from the lists of acceptable documents.
USCIS explains corrections in section 9.0 of its Handbook for Employers (M-274). For anything serious, ask an immigration lawyer.
How we tested it
On October 11, 2026 we tested the reading on 25 made-up page-1 forms. We made them from the current official USCIS Form I-9 (edition 01/20/25) with invented identities. We filled them in handwriting-style fonts and degraded them like scans. 19 of the 25 carried 1 to 3 errors we had added on purpose, taken from ICE's fact sheet. The other 6 had none.
- 714 of 718 fields were read correctly (99.4%).
- All 37 errors we had added were found.
- There were 2 false flags: errors reported that we had not added.
Handwriting-style fonts are easier to read than real handwriting, and no real Form I-9 was used. This test says nothing about real forms yet.
On October 15, 2026 we ran the same test on 25 new made-up forms on the 08/01/23 edition. On that edition the box 4 expiration date sits in a different place. 714 of 715 fields were read correctly, all 35 errors we had added were found, and there were no false flags. The same limits apply: handwriting-style fonts and no real forms.
Planned price
- $4 per form, with the first 10 forms per company checked free.
- The price may still change before the service opens.
- For questions, email support@aokenlabs.com or see the contact page.