Inactive I-9s that have been in the "Ready to Purge" state for 30 days will be processed for permanent deletion from the system. A process is run in the system daily to identify inactive I-9s eligible for purging and updates their status to "Ready to Purge". After remaining in this state for 30 days, the I-9 data associated with these transactions is permanently deleted from the system.

Which I-9s are eligible for purging?

I-9s must satisfy the following conditions to be eligible for purging:

1. I-9 status of the transaction should be inactive. For more details on the inactive I-9 status, please click here.

The "Inactive" status of the I-9 can be verified in the I-9 Console and I-9 Master as shown below:

2) Regardless of the citizenship status (A citizen of the United States, A non-citizen national of the United States, A lawful permanent resident, or A non-citizen authorized to work), the I-9 is eligible for purging if the Hire Date + 3 years or the Termination Date + 1 year, whichever is later, is less than or equal to the current date. Note: Transactions that are force completed (using the "Consider Process Complete" action from the invitation console or the "Force Complete Process" action from Keyword Search) may not have a Hire Date if Form I-9 Section 2 is not completed. In such cases, Termination Date + 1 year is used to determine eligibility for the purge process.

The following example satisfies the condition that the Hire Date + 3 years (which is 05/13/2022 in this case) is less than the current date. Here, Hire Date + 3 years is used to determine eligibility for purging, as it is later than Termination Date + 1 year.

How does the purge process works?

Initially, inactive I-9s eligible for purging will have their status updated to "Ready to Purge". During this stage, the I-9 Master data, including attachments uploaded through process activities in I-9 Section 1, Section 2, Supplement B, I-9 Master, or I-9 Console, will be frozen for 30 days, preventing any changes or corrections. After remaining in the "Ready to Purge" state for 30 days, the I-9 data will be permanently deleted during the next purge process cycle.

How do you identify "Ready to Purge" transactions?

The "Ready to Purge" status of the I-9 will be displayed on all pages where the I-9 status is shown.

To find I-9s with the "Ready to Purge" status in the I-9 Console, you can search for the specific I-9 or use the I-9 Status filter. This will display all transactions that are ready for purging.

I-9 Console

Since no actions are allowed on these I-9s, the "Info and Actions" link will not be displayed for them.

For these I-9s, the "Ready to Purge" status will also reflect in their I-9 Master, I-9 Summary and I-9 Audit pages.

To access these pages, click the I-9 ID link and select the respective option.

I-9 Master

The I-9 status within the I-9 Master will be shown as "Ready to Purge", and the Expected Purge Date field will be visible, indicating the expected date of purge.. Note: If I-9 status is not "Ready to Purge," the Expected Purge Date field will not be visible in the I-9 Master.

I-9 Summary

The "Ready to Purge" status in I-9 Summary shows in the highlighted sections

Note: If additional processes are associated with the I-9, the "Ready to Purge" status will also be displayed in their I-9 Summary.

I-9 Audit 

E-Verify page

Keyword Search: Employee I-9 Life Cycle

View DHS Case History via Keyword Search - I-9 Status/I-9 Compliance 

Dashboards - I-9 Insight

"Ready to Purge" transactions are shown under the Document States section in the I-9 Insight.

How long the I-9s will stay in the "Ready to Purge" status?

I-9s will remain in the "Ready to Purge" status for 30 days, after which the data will be purged or permanently deleted during the next process cycle.

Can you restore the purged I-9 data?

Once an I-9 is purged, restoring the data is not possible. All I-9 data, including document attachments and DHS letters, will be permanently deleted from the system.

Purged transactions will no longer be available in the I-9 related consoles, and all associated data in the process pages will be deleted.

Examples:

Below are the details for I-9 Section 1, Section 2, and E-Verify pages for a purged I-9:

When searched with the I-9 ID, the transaction will not be available in the I-9 Console & the E-Verify Console. 

When searched for the transaction in the Keyword Search Employee I-9 Life Cycle category, the result will not show.

In the Keyword Search I-9 Status/I-9 Compliance the related actions will not be available.

However, the invitation details will still be retained in the system which can be viewed through the Invitation Console.