What is the Form I-9?

I am clearly not the Form I-9 expert—see Janice Kephart and her company ZipID for the full understanding. But this introduces why we have the U.S. Form I-9, how it keeps employers and employees within the law, and what it can do to stop North Koreans from robbing companies blind.

Why

Someone can’t just waltz into a U.S. employer and start working. Legally, anyway.

While there are numerous requirements that you have to meet before starting a job, the one that concerns us here is that only certain people are legally authorized to work.

To check this is a two part process:

  • To check the identity of the person.
  • To check the employment authorization of the person.

Both are necessary. It does no good to determine that Sam Smith is authorized if Sam Smith is really Kim Jong Spy.

Now you don’t have to be a U.S. citizen to work here. I’ve worked with a number of green card holders from France and other countries. I’ve worked with a number of temporary visa holders in which the visa permits the person to work for pay.

But student visa holders usually can’t work.

And people who are just visiting the country usually can’t work.

And finally, people who slip across the border can’t work.

How

So how do we make sure that people who work here are identified and authorized?

Via the completion of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Form I-9.

“Use Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to verify the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. All U.S. employers must properly complete Form I-9 for every individual they hire for employment in the United States. This includes citizens and aliens. Both employees and employers (or authorized representatives of the employer) must complete the form.”

The employee starts the ball rolling by proving that they are who they say they are, and that they are authorized to work here. To do this, they provide information and documents, including at least some of the following:

  • Full name
  • Address
  • Date of birth
  • Social Security Number (not a Taxpayer Identification Number)
  • U. S. citizenship or immigration status (there are multiple options here, ranging from U.S. citizen to “alien authorized to work”)
  • Other numbers as necessary, such as a USCIS number
  • One or more of “List A,” “List B,” and/or “List C” documents

The most powerful of the acceptable documents are List A documents, which prove both identity and employment authorization. A U.S. Passport or a Permanent Resident Card are the most common documents here, but if you have a passport from the Federated States of Micronesia you may still be good to go.

Passport, Federated States of Micronesia.
Blagomeni • CC BY-SA 3.0. Source.

If you don’t have a List A document, then you need one List B (identity) and one List C (authorization) document.

  • List B includes driver’s licenses (REAL ID or no, even Canadian), school ID cards, voter IDs, tribal documents, and others that establish identity in some way.
  • List C includes Social Security cards, birth certificates, and other authorization documents.

After the employee provides all this and completes Section 1 of Form I-9, the employer checks it and completes Section 2 of the form. The documentation must “reasonably” appear to be genuine. 

What

But…if this whole system relies on the employer saying “looks good to me,” how does this keep Kim Jong Spy from illegally working at Palantir and stealing state secrets and American technology?

One, the information and the document checks are worth something. While an employer is unable to truly verify that a driver’s license or a passport is not fraudulent—especially if the remote employee never visits the employer in person—you can bet that USCIS checks all those numbers, and if 10 people use the same Social Security Number they will be flagged.

Two, employers that repeatedly flaunt U.S. employment law can get in trouble. As I detailed in a LinkedIn post, this could include five years of prison time.

So that’s a powerful disincentive for unintentionally or intentionally hiring Kim Jong Spy.

And if the Form I-9 seems like a lot of work, and you wish you could automate it…see ZipID. In addition to everything else, it can compare a live face with the submitted photo ID…because.

Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Chevrolet…in the UK

I needed a blog post idea for Monday, when my U.S. “hungry people” will be satiating themselves at Memorial Day cookouts.

So I thought of a 1970s feel-good U.S. commercial that makes no sense to our friends (if they still like us) across the pond.

For starters, the UK won’t watch baseball on Monday. They will watch cricket.

And hot dogs? People at a cricket match are more likely to consume sausage sandwiches, or fish and chips, or curry dishes, or pies.

Speaking of pies, it’s not what you think.

“Steak and Kidney Pie – It is a classic British pie filled with chunks of beef steak and kidneys cooked in a rich gravy.

“Chicken and Mushroom Pie – This pie is made with tender pieces of chicken combined with mushrooms in a creamy sauce, which is then encased in pastry.

“Cornish Pasty – Although Cornish Pasty is not a pie, many refer to it as a handheld pie. It is a pastry filled with diced meat, potatoes, and vegetables.

“Shepherd’s Pie – A minced lamb or beef pie is topped with mashed potatoes in this preparation.”

And on and on through other meats, but no apple pie on the list. (And forget about pumpkin pie.)

Cars

Which brings us to the British equivalent of the Chevrolet. In the 1970s, I’m not certain that Chevrolet was “America’s favorite car”—sister GM brand Oldsmobile may have held that title numerically. But “Chevy” vied with Ford as the sentimental favorite in the 1970s. 

Today America’s favorite car is the Toyota.

But what of the United Kingdom? Obviously not everyone could afford a Rolls Royce. They were buying Fords in 1975, primarily the Cortina and the Escort. I owned an Escort here in the U.S. many years later, but never owned a Cortina, a primarily UK auto related to the Taurus.

Today the UK’s favorite car is Volkswagen.

You feel safest of all.

What’s Your Opinion of My Performance?

A lot of U.S. identity, biometric, and technology marketers like baseball. But some of you don’t know about the time that Paul Olden asked losing Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda a now-infamous question, “What’s your opinion of [Dave] Kingman’s performance?” (Lasorda’s response—edited—can be heard here.)

(Incidentally, while the picture of Lasorda looks realistic, it is not. Imagen 4 generated it.)

But any of us who write online worry about our own performance, whether we publicly admit it or not.

Why do the wrong things enjoy stellar performance?

Take Becca Chambers, who like the rest of us wants to perform well, but observed:

“There’s a direct inverse relationship between how much time I spend on a post and how well it performs.”

It’s happened to Becca, it’s happened to me, and it’s probably happened to you. Chances are that this post and its social reshares will NOT reach tens of thousands of views, but my trivial observations about silly stuff will. 

For me, these random posts delivered big numbers.

The performance that matters

But in the end, do impressions matter? I constantly remind myself not to chase impressions, and to that end offered this comment on Chambers’ post:

“Depends upon how you measure “performance.”

“If you measure performance based solely on impressions, then you can realize great performance by random succinct thoughts on ghosting or the em dash or whatever.

“But if you measure performance by your paying consulting client saying that they liked your post on an obscure topic that only you and the client care about…then say what you need to say to your hungry people (target audience) and don’t worry about getting 20,000 impressions or 500 likes.”

And if we need any confirmation about the temporary nature of impressions, let’s look at Dave Kingman’s performance for the Chicago Cubs on May 14, 1978. “Three homers, 8 RBI,  3 runs, 4 hits, 1 walk, 13 Total bases.” Plus an uncountable number of expletives from manager Lasorda.

By 1981 Kingman was a New York Met.

What about your performance?

So how do you create content that truly matters to people who will buy from you? By asking yourself some important questions and then developing the content.

And if you’re an identity, biometric, or technology firm that needs help to get content out now (rather than never), talk to Bredemarket. Not about bridges, but about your prospects. Book a free meeting: https://bredemarket.com/cpa/

Enhanced Driver’s License (EDL) vs. REAL ID

Unlike a REAL ID, which merely proves lawful presence in the United States, an Enhanced Driver’s License (EDL) also proves citizenship.

The catch? Only certain states bordering Canada offer them.

Originally developed for both U.S. and Canadian use as part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, as of May 2025 EDLs are only offered by the states of Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington. California considered issuing EDLs, but rejected the idea because of privacy concerns surrounding the underlying RFID technology.

No Canadian province offers EDLs any more. The last province, Manitoba, discontinued them in 2022.

Leonardo Garcia Venegas is a U.S. Citizen…but REAL ID Holders Don’t Have to Be

The Parnas Perspective offered its take on Garcia’s story. From Parnas’ post:

“Authorities allegedly dismissed the ID as fake and used force to detain him, with bystanders shouting that he was a citizen.”

Also listen to the accompanying video (which states that Garcia was born in Florida), and see my prior post.

Non-citizen REAL IDs? Sure.

One important clarification: non-citizens CAN obtain a REAL ID…provided that they are lawfully in the country and hold certain documents.

Here are California’s non-citizen REAL ID requirements, which are federally acceptable:

“This includes all U.S. citizens, permanent residents who are not U.S. citizens (Green Card holders), and those with temporary legal status, such as recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and holders of a valid student or employment visa. For Californians with temporary legal status, their REAL ID DL/ID card will expire on the same date as their U.S. legal presence document, and they can receive a new card with a documented extension of their legal status.”

(Imagen 4)

Leonardo Don’t Lose That Number

You know that I’ve railed against solely relying on knowledge-based authentication: for example, by relying on a person’s knowledge of a name and a birthdate to gain access to protected health information.

What when knowledge-based authentication receives HIGHER trust than other proofs of identity?

There is a story about Leonardo Garcia Venegas, who was working in Foley, Alabama. Apparently he was caught up in an immigration raid. So Garcia, who is a U.S. citizen, did the intelligent thing: he brought out his REAL ID, a document that can only be issued to someone after they prove they are a U.S. citizen.

Except…

“Garcia told Noticias Telemundo that authorities took his ID from his wallet and told him it was fake before handcuffing him.”

So how did he finally get released?

“Garcia said he was released from the vehicle where he was held after he gave the arresting officials his Social Security number, which showed he is a U.S. citizen.”

So apparently having a REAL ID counts for nothing, while being able to rattle off a Social Security Number counts as proof?

Frequent fliers and voters take note.

(Imagen 4)

The Word “Memorial” and the Phrase “Memorial Day”

Words matter. 

Since Bredemarket works in words, let’s examine the word “memorial.”

The Merriam-Webster definitions of the adjective or noun primarily emphasize remembrance or commemoration. In the general sense, a memorial doesn’t necessarily require some type of life or death struggle. 

Heck, the final episode of the TV show M*A*S*H can, and has, been memorialized. After all, the episode title incorporates the sacred word “Amen” into its title (“Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen”). And when you say Amen, you always explore Deep Meaning.

Forever and Ever, Amen anyone?

OK, in truth a memorial can be rather pedestrian. (Although I like Randy Travis.)

But when people in the United States encounter Memorial Day, the importance may escalate.

Or it may not, if you merely think of Memorial Day as Pool Opening Day or Get Propane for the Grill Day.

But this is the time that Americans who have fought in wars and police actions remind the rest of us that Memorial Day is not Veterans Day. Here is what American Legion Post 304 says, in part, about Memorial Day.

“Memorial Day, observed on the last Monday of May, is a day to honor members of the military who were killed in service, both during deployments overseas or in training and service in the U.S. Across the country, Americans spend the day visiting cemeteries, attending Memorial Day events and otherwise honoring those who lost their lives in service to the country.”

To be blunt about it, Memorial Day is a day about death, and if you can’t handle this truth, go back to the pool.

For example, the National World War II Museum notes that 407,316 U.S. military personnel were killed in World War II. This does not denigrate the civilian losses in Hawaii and elsewhere, nor does it denigrate the sacrifices outside of this country (24 million in the USSR alone), nor does it denigrate the losses in other wars.

But, as American Legion Post 304 reminds us, words matter.

“Because Memorial Day is a somber day to honor those who died in service to the country, saying “Happy Memorial Day” is considered to be in bad taste. For those who have lost family or friends through military service, the day is far from happy.”

And while John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields” is primarily associated throughout the world with Remembrance Day (Veterans Day in the U.S.), in this country the subject matter of the poem naturally lends itself to Memorial Day observances.

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

    That mark our place; and in the sky

    The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

“We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

        In Flanders fields.

“Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

    The torch; be yours to hold it high.

    If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

        In Flanders fields.”

(Riverside National Cemetery picture Sigris Lopez, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source.)