Name changes are very common, especially for females that may get married or divorced. We all know that changing ALL of those documents (driver’s license, social security card, employment information, insurance information, ALL OF YOUR BILLS) can be so overwhelming and take some time to receive back from the agencies. Because of this, new employees may sometimes present documentation that doesn’t match.
You may accept a document with a different name than the name entered in Section 1 provided that you resolve the question of whether the document reasonably relates to the employee. You also may wish to attach a brief memo to Form I-9 stating the reason for the name discrepancy, along with any supporting documentation the employee provides. An em¬ployee may provide documentation to support his or her name change, but is not required to do so.
So, for example, an employee completes Section 1 with her new married name “Emily Hanes Hinesley” and provides a social security card with “Emily Hanes Hinesley” but her North Carolina Driver’s License says “Emily Brooke Hanes” and she indicates she was recently married and hasn’t updated her driver’s license information, you could reasonably associate her identification documents as valid and make a note of this information to attach to her I9 form.
If, however, you determine that the docu¬ment with a different name does not reasonably appear to be genuine (looks fake, not a valid document) and to relate to her (names not associated with any of her forms or her Section 1), you may ask her to provide other documents from the Lists of Acceptable Documents on Form I-9.
Sources:
https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/i-9-central-questions-answers/faq/my-new-employee-presented-two-documents-complete-form-i-9-each-containing-different-last-name-one-document-matches-name-entered-section-1-can-i-accept-document-different-name
https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/acceptable-documents/examining-documents
Written by a contributor from Soule Law Firm.
Reviewed for NC law only.
