How do I fix incorrect information in Section 1 of the I-9?

Last updated: August 6, 2026

Section 1 is the employee's own attestation, so only the employee can change it. Use Request Change on the I-9 task to reopen it, send the employee back into the form, then complete Section 2 again.

Before you start

  • Access to the employee's I-9 task in Tasks.

  • An I-9 task where Section 1 has already been submitted.

  • Request Change is unavailable on tasks that have expired, were copied from another task, or were completed outside Onboarded.

Only employees may correct mistakes in the fields they completed in Section 1 — see USCIS's Handbook for Employers (M-274). That's why there's no employer-side edit for a wrong name, date of birth, Social Security number, or citizenship status on a submitted Section 1. The fix is to hand the form back to the employee.

Reopen the I-9

  1. Open the employee's I-9 task from Tasks or the employee Tasks view.

  2. Click Request Change in the actions at the top of the task.

    The Task Change Request dialog opens. If the button is greyed out, no section of the task is complete yet — Section 1 is still open, and the employee can edit it from their existing link without a change request.

  3. Click Request Change in the dialog to confirm.

    You should see a Task change requested message, and the task moves to Requires action with Section 1 as the next action.

Reopening from Section 1 sends the whole I-9 back through both parties. When the employee resubmits Section 1, the answers behind your Section 2 signature change, so Section 2 has to be reviewed, signed, and submitted again before the task completes. Plan for the round trip rather than completing the employee's section on their behalf — the audit trail records the IP address and signature of whoever is in the form.

The dialog's Need to request a change starting from a specific section? (advanced) option unlocks a chosen section and everything after it. It's for reopening later sections only — it can't reopen Section 1 without the sections that follow.

Send the employee back into the form

You have two ways to do this, and both land the employee on the same reopened Section 1. Pick whichever the employee can act on faster.

  1. Reuse the original link. Tell the employee to open the onboarding link they already have. Onboarding links stay valid for 30 days from the day they were created, and the reopened task shows up on that same link.

  2. Or send a fresh link by email. Click Create Link on the task, set Assignee Type to Employee, choose Send via Email under Delivery Method, fill in Email Address, Subject, and Message, then click Send Email.

    Keep {link} somewhere in the message — that's where the onboarding link is inserted. Use this option when the original link has expired or the employee can't find it.

  3. Have the employee correct and resubmit. They'll see Note: This form has been re-opened for edits. Please review your answers and resubmit in order to complete it. at the top of the form.

Complete Section 2 again

  1. Open the task once Section 1 comes back. The next action returns to the employer.

  2. Review Section 2 against the employee's corrected details and the documents in front of you, then sign and submit.

    You should see the task return to Completed.

If an E-Verify case already exists

Correcting the I-9 doesn't reach back into a case that has already been created — E-Verify built that case from the data as it stood at submission. Close the open case with the reason The case is being closed because the data entered is incorrect., then create a new case from the corrected I-9. Submitting a second case before closing the first returns a duplicate-case error.

Verify

The correction is in place when Section 1 shows the corrected values, the regenerated I-9 PDF reflects them, and the task reads Completed with both signatures dated after the change request.

If the employee says the form is still read-only, the change request didn't land — reopen the task and confirm the status reads Requires action. If they can't open the link at all, it has passed its 30-day window; generate a new one with Create Link.

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