In October 2004, President Bush signed Public Law 108-390 which for the first time authorized employers to store Employment Eligibility Verification Forms (Forms I-9) in an electronic format. The law took effect in April of 2005 and employers began to manage their Forms I-9 electronically. There are many reasons why a company should choose an electronic I-9 over a paper process. Those reasons have been listed here:

• Forms may be easily accessible through a secure internet connection
• Business rules are enforced to prevent Employees and Employers from completing invalid Forms I-9
• Employers with multiple sites may easily monitor the compliance of the Form I-9 at remote locations
  
• An integration with the Department of Homeland Security (E-Verify) can be setup to verify each employee’s eligibility
• Automatic purging of records that are no longer needed (3 years after the date of hire or 1 year after termination, whichever is greater
• Some systems, like Emerald Software Group, allow for reporting on visa and I-94 Expiration dates
• Last but not least, the electronic I-9 is more easily searchable. You’ll spend less time digging through the filing cabinet and more time making sure your I-9’s are compliant.