Corporate Onboarding: The High-Volume I-9 Rep - Money Making Monday

Ready to boost your weekly income with a steady stream of corporate work? In this episode, Eddie Montes Travis and Marylyn Lee Trotter explore how you can become a high-volume I-9 Representative for large businesses. Learn how to transition from occasional signings to consistent corporate onboarding assignments that keep your calendar full. • Corporate Partnerships: Finding and building relationships with large HR departments and staffing agencies to become their go-to local representative. • I-9 Compliance Mastery: Understanding the specific legal requirements and common errors to avoid when completing employment eligibility verification for new hires. • Volume Strategies: Organizing your schedule to handle multiple appointments in a single day at a central corporate office or local hub. • Revenue Growth: Calculating your potential earnings when moving into this specialized niche of the mobile service industry. Mastering the art of high-volume work is a game-changer for any mobile professional looking to scale their business quickly. Don't miss these practical tips on how to dominate the corporate onboarding market. Please make sure to subscribe and like the podcast!

Show Notes:
• Understanding the role of an I-9 authorized representative.
• How to find corporate clients needing onboarding help.
• Tips for managing high-volume paperwork efficiently.
• Legal basics of I-9 verification forms.

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Executive Producer Derrick Spruill
Writers Marylyn Lee Trotter and Eddie Montes Travis
Graphics & Illustrations by Eddie Montes Travis
Music by Thomas Bynum
This Show is Produced by Magnificent Workz
Business Solutions

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Need a blueprint to start your mobile notary business? Don't stumble through the premises. You need an outline for success. Introducing the mobile notary blueprint by Derek Sprugal. Build your thriving mobile business and protect yourself from costly mistakes with expert advice.com, Barnes and Noble Bookstore, Booksofmillion.com, Bookshop.org, Mobile Notary by DerekSprugle.com, or download from Kindle and build your successful notary business today.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

Imagine a new hire um logging into their very first day of work from their living room in Seattle.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Right.

SPEAKER_03 0:47

And they have this absolute mountain of onboarding paperwork. But HR is like 3,000 miles away in New York.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Exactly. Completely across the country.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

Yeah. So to get it done, the new hire's roommate just, you know, glances at their passport, scribbles some information on a federal immigration document, leaves a few boxes blank, and unknowingly creates a permanent $28,000 liability for a Fortune 500 company.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

It's terrifying. But welcome to Notary Knowledge.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

Aaron Powell We are Eddie in Marilyn, and we are coming to you with a really bold, direct mandate today.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Absolutely. Because if you're listening to this, you are not a beginner. You are a savvy strategist. You're a high-level operator looking for that next highly lucrative, scalable vertical in the corporate compliance space.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

And our mission today is Razor Sharp. We are focusing entirely on corporate onboarding.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Specifically, how you position yourself as a high-volume elite I-9 authorized representative for enterprise hiring.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Because we're looking at this from a very experienced, high-level perspective. I mean, for those of you who followed our prior strategies on securing corpor vendor contracts, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Consider this the master class application of those exact principles.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Right. We are zeroing in on a massive compliance crisis that is currently literally keeping enterprise human resources directors awake at night.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Oh, absolutely. The numbers behind this crisis are just staggering. By 2025, over 75% of workers will demand hybrid or remote work.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

75%? That's huge.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

It is a permanent structural shift in how the American economy operates. And it has collided violently with a federal law that requires physical in-person document inspection for every single new hire.

SPEAKER_03 2:32

Which is basically a geographical impossibility for HR now.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Exactly. I mean, you have enterprise teams sitting in a skyscraper in Austin or Chicago, and they're trying to hire top engineering talent in, say, San Jose or Dallas.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

Right. And they are legally blocked from completing the onboarding process because they are thousands of miles away from the employees' physical identity and work authorization documents.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

Aaron Powell And the stakes for getting this wrong, they have never been higher.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

No. Because today we're going to expose the devastating March 2026 policy changes by U.S. immigration and customs enforcement.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Which most people just know as ICE.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

Right, ICE. They have completely rewritten the rule book. They turned minor clerical errors that, you know, used to just get a warning into massive, uncorrectable, immediate fines.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

Aaron Powell, it sounds like an absolute regulatory nightmare for corporate America.

SPEAKER_03 3:24

It really does. But for you, the savvy strategist listening right now, it's the ultimate B2B opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Oh, without a doubt, you're going to learn how to step into the gap as an elite compliance partner.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Aaron Powell But to actually capitalize on this corporate onboarding niche, we have to start at the foundation. Like we need to understand the exact logistical nightmare that HR directors are dealing with.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

Right. So let's go back to the federal mandate itself.

SPEAKER_03 3:48

Where does this requirement actually originate?

SPEAKER_02 3:50

Aaron Powell Well, it stems from the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Right. It's often referred to as IRCA. And the core principle of IRCA was to basically shift the burden of immigration enforcement squarely onto the shoulders of American businesses.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

Wow. Okay. So the mandate is pretty simple in theory, right? Employers just cannot knowingly hire unauthorized workers.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Exactly. And to ensource this, the federal government created the Form I-9, the Employment Eligibility Verification Document.

SPEAKER_03 4:20

Which applies to everyone, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Every single U.S. employer and every single W-2 employee hired after November 6, 1986.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

Aaron Powell So it's universal, but I mean, what makes it a logistical nightmare today compared to back in 1986? Because b back then everyone just went into an office, shook hands, and handed their boss a driver's license.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

Yeah. And that is exactly the issue. The law was built for an analog in-person world. But the execution is governed by this ruthlessly strict timeline that really doesn't care if your workforce is remote.

SPEAKER_03 4:51

Ah, the timeline.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Right. The employee must complete section one of the form on or before their very first day of employment.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

Okay, on or before day one.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Yep. Then the employer must complete section two within three business days of the employee's start date. And that three-day window, it's non-negotiable.

SPEAKER_03 5:07

So if someone starts on a Monday, the employer has until Thursday to like look at the documents and sign the form?

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

Which brings us right back to the remote work problem. I mean, if the HR manager is in Chicago and the new hire is in Seattle, HR cannot physically examine their original passport. Right. And the law strictly forbids just looking at a photocopy, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Oh, absolutely. For decades, the law has strictly forbidden examining photocopies. The original physical document must be examined in the physical presence of the employee. Wow. So to solve this, the government created a workaround. We can call it the authorized representative loophole.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

Okay, I like the sound of that.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Yeah. It is officially detailed in the USCIS M274 handbook for employers. Basically, the federal government allows an employer to designate an authorized representative to act as their agent.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

So a local proxy.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Exactly. This representative meets the employee locally, physically examines the original documents, and then completes and signs section two on the employer's behalf.

SPEAKER_03 6:09

Okay, this is where it gets really interesting for the people listening, I think, because who is actually allowed to be this representative? Does it have to be like a lawyer or a federal agent?

SPEAKER_02 6:18

That is the wild part. According to the federal guidelines, almost anyone can serve in this capacity.

SPEAKER_03 6:24

Wait, anyone?

SPEAKER_02 6:25

Basically, yeah. A personnel officer, a foreman, an agent, a notary public acting in a non-official capacity, or even get this friend or family member of the new hire.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Aaron Powell Wait, hold on. A friend or family member. So an HR director at a major corporation can just tell a new hire to have their college roommate verify their federal documents.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Yes, it is technically legal under federal law.

SPEAKER_03 6:47

That sounds insane.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

It is. And it introduces the ultimate liability trap, which is the very reason our listeners are going to be able to sell their services at a massive premium.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Okay, what's the catch?

SPEAKER_02 6:59

Here is the catch. The employer remains 100% legally and financially liable for any error the authorized representative makes.

SPEAKER_03 7:08

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Yeah. If the representative makes a mistake, the employer pays the fine. The roommate doesn't pay it, the massive corporation does.

SPEAKER_03 7:17

So this is what we see all the time in the corporate world, right? We call it the friends and family anti-patch. Exactly. To save money and time, HR tells the remote hire, hey, just have your roommate, your spouse, or your cousin look at your passport and sign section two. Right, which is just It sounds like they are essentially outsourcing their federal compliance liability to a totally untrained civilian. I mean it's like it's like handing the keys of a Formula One race car to a teenager who just got their learner's permit.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Oh, that's a perfect analogy.

SPEAKER_03 7:46

Right. A crash isn't just possible, it's absolutely inevitable. But the massive corporation is the one paying the insurance premium when that car hits the wall.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

That is a brilliant way to frame it. Think about the mechanics of what is actually happening during that process. A roommate has zero training in immigration compliance.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Right. None.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

They do not know how to spot fraudulent documents. They do not know the complex sequencing required in section two, like identifying the correct issuing authority or matching expiration dates perfectly.

SPEAKER_03 8:20

And when people don't understand a government form, what do they usually do?

SPEAKER_02 8:23

They panic, they leave fields blank, they use whiteout to fix mistakes, or they write the dates in the wrong format.

SPEAKER_03 8:31

It is a ticking time bomb just sitting in a filing cabinet somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

Before we explain exactly how that bomb goes off, because the government recently changed how they penalized those mistakes, I want to remind you to take your professional development to the next level.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Yes, definitely.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

If you are serious about becoming an elite compliance partner, you need to arm yourself with the right resources. Be sure to buy the notary knowledge books by Derek Spruel.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

They are fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

And visit the Notary Knowledge website for unparalleled resources and high-level training materials designed specifically for the savvy strategist. It's so true. Now let's explore why corporate HR is suddenly so desperate for professional authorized representatives instead of just relying on that friends and family method.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

Because things changed, right?

SPEAKER_03 9:16

Big time. Because the federal government just changed the rules of engagement and they did it very, very quietly. You are referring to the March 2026 ICE fact sheet overhaul. I am. To understand why this change is sending shock waves through corporate boardrooms, we really need to understand how ICE audits used to work. There was an old framework that gave employers a pretty comfortable safety net, wasn't there?

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Yes. For decades, audits were governed by a nineteen ninety-seven directive known as the Virtue Memorandum.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

Okay, the Virtue Memorandum.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Right. Under that old framework, if immigration and customs enforcement audited your company, meaning they served you with a notice of inspection and demanded to see all your I-9s within three days, they would categorize any paperwork violations they found.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

If the errors were gained technical or procedural, the employer was given a 10 business day grace period to fix them before any fines were assessed.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

So it was essentially a get out of jail free card.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Pretty much, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:13

If a roommate forgot to date a signature, ICE would point it out. And HR had ten days to track the employee down and say, hey, fill in the date, no harm, no foul.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Exactly. But in March 2026, ICE released a quiet but absolutely brutal update.

SPEAKER_03 10:29

Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

They reclassified over ten common clerical errors. They moved them from the technical category, meaning they were correctable, into the substantive category. And substantive means substantive means immediate, non-correctable monetary penalties. There is no 10-day cure window anymore. If the auditor finds the mistake, the fine is automatic.

SPEAKER_03 10:49

Wow. What kind of errors are we talking about here? Because if they are complex, you know, immigration code errors, maybe the risk isn't that high for the average worker.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

Aaron Powell Well, that is the terrifying part for HR. The newly reclassified substantive violations are the exact basic mistakes an untrained friend or roommate is guaranteed to make.

SPEAKER_03 11:07

Like what?

SPEAKER_02 11:08

We are talking about missing the date of hire in section two, missing the employee's date of birth in section one, failure to date section one or section two entirely.

SPEAKER_03 11:16

Just simple dates.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Just dates. And perhaps the most common, leaving the employer or authorized representative title blank.

SPEAKER_03 11:23

Oh, I can see exactly how that happens. A roommate signs their name in section two, but they get to the box that says title and they think, well, um, I don't work for this company. I'm just a guy. So they leave it blank.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

And under the old rules, HR could just fix that. But under the new rules, that single blank box is an instant substantive violation.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

It is. And the financial impact is just staggering.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

As of the latest Federal Register adjustments, fines for these paperwork violations range from $288 to $2,861 per individual form.

SPEAKER_03 12:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

Just for paperwork errors.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

Aaron Powell, let me just do the math on that for a second. If an enterprise company hires 500 remote workers in a year, which is common. Right. And they use the the friends and family method, and just half of those forms have a blank title or a missing date, that's 250 forms. Yep. At the maximum penalty, that's over $700,000 in fines purely for clerical errors.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

Aaron Powell And that is just the paperwork penalty. If the auditor finds evidence that the company knowingly hired unauthorized workers, the fines escalate all the way up to $28,619 per worker.

SPEAKER_03 12:34

That's bankruptcy for some companies.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

It really is. But sticking strictly to the paperwork, the removal of that 10-day cure window makes every single blank box a dicking time bomb.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

And it's not like the risk just goes away after the employee's first week, right? This introduces a legal concept that our listeners need to deeply understand when they pitch to corporations, the continuing violation.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Oh, this is a critical point to raise in client meetings.

SPEAKER_03 13:00

Break it down for us.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

An I-9 error is not a one-time event that happened in the past. Legally, a deficient form I-9 is a live, ongoing violation for as long as that employee works for the company.

SPEAKER_03 13:12

So there's no statute of limitations.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

The statute of limitations does not protect you while the employee is active.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

Doesn't the liability even outlive their employment?

SPEAKER_02 13:19

It does. Because of the strict federal retention period, employers must keep the I-9 for three years after the date of hire, or one year after termination, whichever is later.

SPEAKER_03 13:29

So even after they leave.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

That blank title field or missing date is a findable offense sitting in a digital repository for years. Wow. This is the exact leverage you use in your pitch. The risk is simply too catastrophic for a corporation to trust an untrained civilian.

SPEAKER_03 13:50

Okay, so physical I-9s carry massive risks if executed poorly. But a logical strategist listening to this might ask: hey, if the fines are this steep and the friends and family method is a ticking time bomb, why aren't these massive tech companies just hopping on a Zoom call to look at the passports?

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Right. It seems like the obvious solution.

SPEAKER_03 14:07

Yeah. I mean they have the technology. Why not just verify documents over webcam and skip the in-person representative altogether?

SPEAKER_02 14:14

It is a great question because the technologies certainly exist, but the federal government built a massive complex firewall around remote video verification.

SPEAKER_03 14:23

Of course they did.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

On August 1st, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security made rules for remote video verification permanent. We call it the DHS alternative procedure.

SPEAKER_03 14:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

But they put a heavy lock on the door. The absolute prerequisite to using video verification is that the employer must be actively enrolled in e-Verify, and they must be in good standing at all applicable hiring sites.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

Okay, let's break down e-Verify for a second so everyone is on the same page.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 15:02

It essentially checks if the person actually exists and is authorized to work. So if a company is not enrolled in that federal database, they cannot use video verification at all. Period.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Correct. And even if a company is enrolled in eVerify, the rules for conducting a video verification are incredibly strict. Oh so well, it cannot just be a manager saying, hey, email me a photo of your driver's license. The interaction must be a live, real-time video call. No pre-recorded videos are allowed.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

The logistics of that live call seem pretty intense based on the DHS guidelines. How does that actual video process work?

SPEAKER_02 15:35

First, the employee has to transmit clear front and back copies of their documents to the employer before the meeting. Okay. Then they have to get on the live video call and physically hold up those exact original documents to the camera.

SPEAKER_03 15:48

So they have to show it on screen.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

Right. So the employer can verify that they match the copies sent earlier and that they reasonably appear to belong to the person on screen.

SPEAKER_03 15:56

That sounds like an administrative headache to manage like lighting, camera resolution, and document glare. And it doesn't end when the call hangs up, does it?

SPEAKER_02 16:06

No, it doesn't. Because the employer is then legally mandated to retain those clear, legible front and back copies of the documents for the entire duration of the retention period.

SPEAKER_03 16:16

Which is years.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Exactly. And finally, the employer must check a specific box on the Form I9 indicating that the alternative procedure was used.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Here is the danger zone, connecting back to those ICE fines we just talked about. If a company uses remote video verification to examine documents, but they are not actively enrolled in e-verify, how does ICE treat that?

SPEAKER_02 16:38

ICE now classifies that as a substantive, uncorrectable violation.

SPEAKER_03 16:43

Instant fines.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Instant fines. You cannot retroactively fix it. If you examine documents via Zoom and you weren't on e-Verify, that I9 is permanently invalid in the eyes of an auditor.

SPEAKER_03 16:54

Aaron Powell So let's explore the market viability here. If a massive Fortune 500 company qualifies for e-Verify and they have the HR Tech stack to manage the live video and secure document storage, does the market for in-person authorized representatives just disappear for those specific companies?

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Not at all. In fact, the market for in-person physical verification remains incredibly robust even among Fortune 500s.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

Well, why?

SPEAKER_02 17:17

The reason is that many enterprise companies specifically opt out of e-Verify.

SPEAKER_03 17:21

Why would they opt out? If it allows them to use video, wouldn't they want to enroll?

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Because e-Verify carries a massive administrative burden on the back end. When you submit an employee's data to e-Verify, the system doesn't always come back with a green light. Right. Very often it returns a tentative non-confirmation or a TNC.

SPEAKER_03 17:39

A TNC, okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

TNC means the government databases found a discrepancy. Maybe the employee got married and changed their name, but the Social Security Administration hasn't updated it yet.

SPEAKER_03 17:50

Happens all the time.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Right. But when a TNC happens, HR has to stop what they are doing, officially notify the employee, and the employee only has eight days to contact the government to resolve it.

SPEAKER_03 18:01

Eight days is not a lot of time for a government fix.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

It isn't. And if the HR team fails to manage that strict timeline, the company faces severe penalties. It stalls the entire onboarding pipeline.

SPEAKER_03 18:12

I see. So for a company hiring thousands of people, the sheer volume of TNCs they would have to manage makes e-Verify more expensive in human capital than it's worth.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 18:22

Are there legal complexities with e-Verify across different states too?

SPEAKER_02 18:26

Immense complexities. While e-Verify is a federal program, its usage is dictated heavily by state law. States like Florida, Tennessee, and North Carolina have differing, strict e-Verify mandates for certain businesses.

SPEAKER_03 18:41

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

Yeah. A national company might not want to entangle their entire nationwide operation in a web of state-by-state database compliance just to satisfy the video requirements for their remote hires. They often prefer a uniform physical I-9 process across all 50 states.

SPEAKER_03 18:58

Plus, even over a high-definition webcam, some documents are just too complex to verify digitally. I mean, think about foreign nationals with complex visa documents.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Right, it's impossible.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

A standard 720p laptop webcam isn't going to cut it when an HR manager is trying to locate microprinting or like specific holographic security features on a highly sensitive immigration document. You need a human being in the room to physically inspect it.

SPEAKER_02 19:21

Precisely.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

This is a perfect time to remind you to check out the incredible video podcast No Notary with Eddie Montes Travis.

SPEAKER_02 19:36

A must-watch.

SPEAKER_03 19:37

As well as Maryland's 90 seconds of notary. These are phenomenal resources to keep your skills sharp and your business strategies ahead of the curve as you navigate these compliance waters.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

Definitely check those out. Now, corporate America knows that mobile professionals, particularly notaries, are the perfect logistical solution for physical document inspection.

SPEAKER_03 19:57

You are mobile, you are thoroughly vetted, and you are accustomed to handling highly sensitive identity documents on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

Exactly. But ironically, notaries often completely bungle the execution of the I-9 because they treat it like a traditional notarization.

SPEAKER_03 20:14

Yes. This brings us to the golden rule of I-9s. If you take nothing else away from this discussion, this must be burned into your operational manual.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Write this down.

SPEAKER_03 20:23

Completing a Form I-9 is not a notarial act.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Let me repeat the mechanism behind that. It is not a notarial act.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

When you are hired by a corporation to verify an I-9, you are acting exclusively as their authorized representative. Right. You are an agent of the company acting in a non-official capacity regarding your notary commission. Therefore, you must never apply your official notary seal or stamp to the form I-9.

SPEAKER_03 20:48

Never.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

In the title field of section two, you must write authorized representative. You never write notary public.

SPEAKER_03 20:55

If you stamp that form, you are instantly demonstrating to the HR director that you do not understand federal compliance. You will lose that enterprise contract immediately because a stamp has absolutely no legal standing on an I-9, and it actually confuses the document's legal status during an audit.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

I want to ground this in reality. If you are an elite compliance partner in the field, what does a disaster scenario actually look like when someone hands you their documents?

SPEAKER_03 21:23

Good question.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

Let's walk through five highly specific document scenarios that you will encounter. These scenarios separate the amateurs from the elite compliance partners.

SPEAKER_03 21:31

I love this. Let's start with a scenario in Ohio. Let's say a guy named David shows up for his I-9 verification appointment, but he was just in a car accident and he has a broken arm in the heavy cast. He literally cannot hold a pen to sign Section One of his form. What is the process here?

SPEAKER_02 21:49

This tests your knowledge of the form's deep structure. If David cannot fill out or sign Section One, he obviously needs a preparer or translator to help him. But you, as the authorized representative, cannot just fill it out for him, have him make a verbal oath, and leave it at that.

SPEAKER_03 22:06

Which people do all the time.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

They do. But anyone who helps an employee complete section one must fill out supplement A.

SPEAKER_03 22:13

Supplement A.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

Which is the preparer and or translator certification. Under the new March 2026 rules, incomplete preparer information in supplement A is a substantive violation.

SPEAKER_03 22:23

Here's that word again. Substantive.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

Exactly. You have to ensure that supplement is perfectly executed, signed, and dated by whoever helps him before you even look at his physical documents for section two.

SPEAKER_03 22:33

That is a critical procedural trap. Okay, let's move to a second scenario in Florida. You are verifying Jessica. She is an elderly employee who is coming out of retirement for a specialized consulting role.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

Happens a lot.

SPEAKER_03 22:45

She brings you a voter registration card and a social security card. But the social security card is heavily laminated, and her voter card doesn't even have a photo on it. Can you accept those?

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Let's break down the categories. The voter registration card is a list B document which establishes identity.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Even without a photo, a voter registration card is acceptable under federal guidelines for list B, provided it contains identifying information like name, date of birth, gender, height, eye color, and address.

SPEAKER_03 23:17

So the voter card is valid.

SPEAKER_02 23:19

Yes. Her social security card is a list C document which establishes employment authorization. However, the lamination is the trap here. Ah. If the Social Security card states on the back, not valid if laminated, the authorized representative must reject it. You have to know the physical constraints of the documents presented. You cannot accept a document that has voided itself.

SPEAKER_03 23:41

So what happens when you tell Jessica you can't accept the laminated social security car and she says, Oh, that's annoying. Let me just go to my safe and get my U.S. passport instead.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

That brings up the crucial anti-discrimination rule.

SPEAKER_03 23:51

Very important.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

The authorized representative must never steer documents. You cannot demand a U.S. passport. You cannot say a passport would be easier for me to record.

SPEAKER_03 24:00

Even if it would be.

SPEAKER_02 24:01

Even if it would be. The employee has the absolute legal right to choose which documents to present from the lists of acceptable documents.

SPEAKER_03 24:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

If she wants to present a list A document like a passport, great. If she wants to present a different list C document instead of the laminated card like a birth certificate, great. You simply inspect what she freely chooses to present.

SPEAKER_03 24:22

Let's look at a third scenario which is notoriously difficult. Marcus in New Jersey. Marcus is a foreign national working in the U.S. on a specific visa. He presents a foreign passport and a form I-94.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

Oh, this is where untrained reps completely fail. An untrained friend might look at a foreign passport and say, Um, I need a US document, I can't accept this.

SPEAKER_03 24:42

Which is a huge mistake.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

That is a fast track to a discrimination lawsuit. A foreign passport combined with a form I-94 bearing the same name and containing an endorsement of the individual's non-immigrant status, is a valid list A combination.

SPEAKER_03 24:57

Meaning it proves both identity and employment authorization.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

Exactly. A savvy authorized representative knows exactly how to record the foreign passport number, the issuing authority, which is the country of issuance, and the 11-digit I-94 admission number in the specific designated fields of section two. It requires intense attention to detail.

SPEAKER_03 25:18

Fourth scenario, Elena in Texas. Elena is highly protective of her personal privacy, especially regarding identity theft. She brings her Texas driver's license and her U.S. passport to the meeting.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:31

She hands you the passport and says, I'm using this, so I don't have to show you my social security number or write it on the form.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

Elena is entirely within her rights regarding the documents. A U.S. passport is a list A document. It satisfies both identity and work authorization simultaneously.

SPEAKER_03 25:46

So she doesn't need to show the license or the social security card.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

She does not need to show her driver's license or a social security card. As for writing her social security number in section one, providing an SSN is technically voluntary for the employee under standard federal rules.

SPEAKER_03 26:01

But there is a massive exception to that rule, isn't there?

SPEAKER_02 26:04

Yes. And this is where the elite strategist proves their worth. If the employer uses e-Verify, the Social Security number is mandatory in Section One.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Really?

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Yes. The e-Verify system cannot process the query without it. You have to know the employer's specific protocol before you meet with the employee to advise Elena correctly on whether she must write her SSN in section one.

SPEAKER_03 26:26

Wow, that's nuanced.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

But regarding her physical documents, the passport is fully sufficient.

SPEAKER_03 26:31

Okay, let's look at one final scenario, Kevin, in Washington State. Kevin presents a valid state driver's license, hands it to you, and says he is ready to wrap up.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

A state driver's license is only a list B document. It only proves identity. It says nothing about his legal authorization to work in the United States. Right. A rookie mistake is recording the driver's license, assuming that's enough, and signing the form. If you do that, you just committed a substantive violation.

SPEAKER_03 26:58

Boom, instant fine.

SPEAKER_02 26:59

You must ensure Kevin also provides a list C document, like an unrestricted social security card or a birth certificate issued by a state or local authority. You must record both documents accurately in their respective columns in section two.

SPEAKER_03 27:13

These scenarios highlight exactly why this is a premium high-value service. It requires specialized knowledge. And speaking of specialized knowledge, if we are talking about state-specific nuances, we absolutely must address the ultimate state-specific landmine. Oh, yes. The California rule.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

If you operate in California or if you are pitching to an enterprise that hires remote workers in California, you must intimately understand California Business and Professions Code, sections 2244D and 22441.

SPEAKER_03 27:42

It's a big one.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

California treats the Form I-9 as an immigration document. Therefore, a California notary public cannot complete a Form I-9 for compensation unless they're also a qualified bonded immigration consultant.

SPEAKER_03 27:54

That is a massive jurisdictional hurdle. I mean, if an HR director in New York is totally unaware of this law and they hire a standard non-bonded California notary to verify an employee in San Francisco, what happens?

SPEAKER_02 28:06

That notary is operating completely outside the law. This can completely void the verification, leaving the employer liable for having an invalid I-9 on file.

SPEAKER_03 28:16

Which ironically is a massive selling point for our listeners. If you are a bonded immigration consultant in California, you are not just selling a signature, you are selling regulatory safety. Exactly. You can look that New York HR director in the eye and say, Hey, I am the bonded representative that California law requires. I protect you from voided verifications and ICE fines.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

Yeah, it's the perfect pitch. And now that you possess this high-level compliance knowledge, it is time to pivot to the application. It is time for Moneymaking Monday.

SPEAKER_03 28:46

Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_02 28:47

How do you actually monetize this knowledge at an enterprise scale? We are shifting the focus away from scraping for one-off $50 gigs on gig platforms and moving towards securing lucrative long-term B2B corporate contracts.

SPEAKER_03 29:00

Your target market here is not the individual employee who needs a form filled out. Your targets are enterprise, HR departments, national remote recruitment firms, and professional employer organizations, or PEOs.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

Yes, PEOs are huge.

SPEAKER_03 29:13

For those unfamiliar, a PEO is an outsourcing firm that provides services for small and medium businesses. They manage payroll, benefits, and HR tasks. PEOs process hundreds, sometimes thousands, of remote hires during seasonal surges. They need a scalable, reliable partner.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

To pitch these entities, you really have to understand the competitive landscape and pricing models. If you look at national competitors, you see a wide range of pricing that clearly establishes the premium market value of this service.

SPEAKER_03 29:43

What are the numbers looking like?

SPEAKER_02 29:45

Well, take a company like the Best Notary, a nationwide service. They charge between $229 and $279 per appointment for one-off verifications. Wow. They offer starter packages at $995 for just five appointments.

SPEAKER_03 30:00

Then you have regional specialists like Fingerscan Digital in California. They charge a $90 flat fee if the employee comes into their physical office, plus substantial variable travel fees for mobile execution in the field.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

Even at the enterprise software level, the pricing holds up. Equifax offers an outsourced I-9 service. They charge around $84.95 to $100 per form completion.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

Just for the form.

SPEAKER_02 30:23

And that is on top of their monthly platform access and e-verify subscription fees that the employer is already paying.

SPEAKER_03 30:31

So the market clearly supports premium pricing because of the sheer liability involved. When you pitch to a VP of human resources, you don't pitch single appointments. You structure long-term master service agreements with contractual bulk rates. You use tiered pricing to secure their high volume.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

Let's break down what a tiered structure looks like. Tier one pricing might be for a client who commits to one to fifty cases a quarter. Your rate for that tier is $150 per file.

SPEAKER_03 30:58

Okay, $150.

SPEAKER_02 31:00

It provides them a dedicated professional service and it provides you a very high profit margin.

SPEAKER_03 31:04

And as their volume grows, the price scales down to incentivize exclusivity rate. Right. Tier 2, for $51 to $150 cases, might drop to $110 per file. But the real goal is securing a tier 4 high volume contract.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

The holy grail.

SPEAKER_03 31:20

Say you land a PEO doing $500 plus hires during a Q3 seasonal ramp up. You price that volume at $75 per file. Do the math on that. At 500 cases, that is a $37,500 contract for a process that, when executed efficiently by your trained team, takes about 15 minutes per physical appointment.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

But to win those tier four contracts, corporate clients demand absolute operational guarantees. You cannot just promise you'll do a good job. You have to bind yourself to service level agreements or SLAs.

SPEAKER_03 31:52

LAs, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

These are the hard metrics by which your contract is judged and renewed.

SPEAKER_03 31:57

An enterprise SLA looks like this. First, a four-hour contact initiation. The moment HR securely transmits the new hire's info to you, your team contacts that hire within four business hours to schedule the physical meeting.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

That speed is crucial.

SPEAKER_03 32:10

Second, a 48-hour completion guarantee. You guarantee that section two will be completed, signed, and securely transmitted back to HR within 48 hours. This allows the employer to easily beat the federal three-day deadline.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

And the most important SLA of all, a 99.5% compliance accuracy rate. It is. You are contractually guaranteeing that your forms will not trigger substantive violations during an ICE audit.

SPEAKER_03 32:35

Think about this strategically. You are not selling a signature on a piece of paper. You are selling a $2,861 insurance policy against ICE fines.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 32:46

How does shifting that mindset change the way you pitched? You don't walk into a boardroom and say, hey, I can look at IDs for you. You say, my firm mitigates your federal exposure. We ensure every section two is executed flawlessly, entirely insulating your company from the March 2026 ICE substantive violation penalties.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

That is a pitch a VP of HR signs off on immediately.

SPEAKER_03 33:10

It really is. And to maintain those lucrative enterprise contracts year over year, you must execute flawlessly and help employers navigate complex, unexpected operational hurdles.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

You have to be a true compliance partner, not just a vendor. One massive hidden opportunity here is mergers and acquisitions.

SPEAKER_03 33:26

MA activity is an absolute gold mine for an elite authorized representative firm. When company A buys company B, what happens to all the HR paperwork?

SPEAKER_02 33:34

It doesn't just go away. The acquiring company inherits all of the acquired company's past I-9 liabilities. The legal term for this is successor liability.

SPEAKER_03 33:43

Successor liability. So during the due diligence phase of the buyout, the acquiring company's legal team will audit the target company's I-9s. Always. If they discover terrible records, missing dates, blank titles, rampant friends and family errors, they cannot just accept those forms. If they do, they assume the massive financial liability for all those potential fines.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

The legal remedy is brutal. The acquiring company must execute entirely new I-9s for all acquired employees. And here is the kicker: they must do it within three business days of the closing date of the merger.

SPEAKER_03 34:17

Three days. Imagine a tech company acquiring a remote workforce of 300 people scattered across the country. They have 72 hours to physically verify 300 physical documents.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

It's a logistical nightmare for them.

SPEAKER_03 34:29

But it is a massive high-margin bulk rate opportunity for a coordinated authorized representative firm to deploy agents nationwide.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

Another ongoing operational hurdle you manage for your clients is reverification, which utilizes supplement B of the I-9 form.

SPEAKER_03 34:44

Ugh, supplement B.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Employees with temporary work authorization, like certain employment authorization documents or specialized visas, have expiration dates. The employer must physically reverify their continued authorization to work before that document expires.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

Right.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

You become the retained partner to handle all physical reverifications nationwide on a rolling basis.

SPEAKER_03 35:06

To ensure your firm hits that 99.5% SLA accuracy rate across all these scenarios, you must implement a rigorous internal quality control checklist. Every form your agents touch must pass QA before it is ever sent back to the corporate client.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

The QA checklist is your final defense against those new substantive errors. First, ensure no whiteout is ever used. No. If an agent makes a mistake writing a document number, they must draw a single line through the incorrect data, write the correct information next to it, and initial and date the correction.

SPEAKER_03 35:39

Second, verify the signature sequence. The exact same person who physically viewed the original documents must be the person who signed section two.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

Very important.

SPEAKER_03 35:48

You cannot have one agent inspect the passport in the field and another agent sign the form later back in the office.

SPEAKER_02 35:54

Third, meticulously check the date formatting. Ensure all dates use a four-digit year in the YYY format.

SPEAKER_03 36:02

It seems minor, but strict appearance prevents digital rejection if the employer uses an API integration to feed the data into their HR software.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

Here is a scenario that tests your QA protocol. What do you do if the employer sends you a partially filled Form I9 and Section 2 has a blank hire date? And the remote employee sitting in front of you says, Um, I don't know my exact official start date yet. HR hasn't told me, just leave it blank.

SPEAKER_03 36:27

That's a trap.

SPEAKER_02 36:28

You halt the process immediately. The authorized representative must decline to sign the form in that moment. You escalate it back to your corporate HR contact and require them to provide the exact start date. Because leaving it blank is guessing the date or leaving it blank is now an uncorrectable substantive violation under the March 2026 rules. You protect the client by refusing to execute a non-compliant document, even if it delays the process by an hour.

SPEAKER_03 36:53

It is about strict, uncompromising adherence to the process. As we wrap up the session, I want to leave you with a broader concept to ponder. We are rapidly moving into an era of massive digital integration and compliance.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

We really are.

SPEAKER_03 37:07

With the rise of digital I9 repositories and government API integrations, an ICE auditor no longer has to physically walk into an HR office and sift through dusty paper boxes.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

The audit process is becoming entirely digital and automated. An auditor can simply run a digital script against an employer's entire cloud database. Wow. That script can find every missing date, every blank title, and every formatting error across 10,000 forms in mere milliseconds.

SPEAKER_03 37:36

In an era where digital tools make identifying errors absolutely instantaneous, the value of a perfectly trained human authorized representative in the field has never been higher.

SPEAKER_02 37:45

Never.

SPEAKER_03 37:45

The technology can flag the errors with terrifying speed, but only a human can prevent them at the moment of physical verification. The ultimate question for you, the savvy strategist, is this Will you be the one providing that flawless execution to corporate America?

SPEAKER_02 37:59

We want to hear your thoughts, your strategies, and your questions as you build out this B2B vertical. Please email your questions to Derek at Dereksbruel.com. We will try to answer as soon as possible at the end of our shows.

SPEAKER_03 38:11

Exec producer Derek Sprill, lead writer Marilyn Lee Trotter, graphics Eddie Montez Travis, music Thomas Bynum, produced by Magnificent Works Business Solutions. Don't just be listeners of the knowledge, be doers of the knowledge. This is notary knowledge. Until next time.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

Are you an aspiring notary looking to join millions of other notaries? Start your journey with the Notary Public Foundation by Derek Sproeil. This essential guide provides the step-by-step process to becoming commissioned in your state. Don't stumble into the role. Walk into it with confidence. Grab your copy of the Notary Public Foundation by Derek Sproeil on Amazon today.