Frequently Asked Questions

COMPLIANCE and LEGAL

Is ZipID ICE-compliant I-9 software?

Yes. ZipID satisfies all five federal electronic I-9 system requirements under 8 CFR § 274a.2 — including compliant audit trails, electronic signature protocols, and secure storage standards. It is specifically designed to meet the March 2026 ICE reclassification that elevated common errors to substantive violations.

What are the fines for I-9 violations in 2026?

As of January 2025, I-9 paperwork violations carry fines of $288 to $2,861 per form under 8 CFR § 274a.10(b)(2). Knowingly hiring unauthorized workers carries fines up to $28,619 per worker for repeat offenses. ICE audit rates in 2025 ran at least ten times higher than the prior year.

Is ZipID integrated with E-Verify?

ZipID is pursuing certified E-Verify third-party agent status by August 2026. Currently, after the employer signs the I-9, ZipID redirects to E-Verify and automatically populates the resulting case data into the Additional Information field — preserving the complete record for audit purposes.

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TECHNOLOGY and ACCURACY

What is NIST and why does it matter for I-9 verification?

NIST — the National Institute of Standards and Technology — is the federal agency that sets accuracy benchmarks for biometric identity technologies. For I-9 compliance, NIST validation matters because it provides an independent government-verified measure of whether a facial recognition system is reliable enough to trust. ZipID uses NIST-tested algorithms rated at 99.998% accuracy.

What is ZipID's biometric accuracy for 1:1 selfie-to-ID matching?

ZipID's 1:1 facial recognition is rated at 99.998% accuracy using NIST-validated algorithms — fewer than 2 mismatches per 100,000 verifications. Liveness detection is built in to confirm the selfie is from a real, present person rather than a photo or deepfake.

What is OCR and how does ZipID use AI-powered OCR for I-9 verification?

OCR — Optical Character Recognition — reads and extracts text from government-issued IDs. ZipID uses AI-powered OCR to instantly capture a new hire's ID data and automatically populate the required Form I-9 fields, eliminating manual entry and typos. The AI layer also cross-checks extracted data for logical consistency and flags tampered, synthetic, or spoofed documents.

How does ZipID verify a new hire?

ZipID uses NIST-validated biometric facial recognition to match a live selfie to the photo on the new hire's government-issued ID. AI-powered OCR extracts and autofills document data. Fraud detection runs in the background checking for tampered, synthetic, or spoofed documents.

Do you recommend using face recognition?

Facial authentication is entirely the employer's choice. It confirms that the new hire is who they say they are and that the ID they present matches their live self — especially valuable for remote hires, high-security roles, or industries with elevated identity fraud risk.

USING ZipID

How long does it take to complete an I-9 with ZipID?

ZipID completes the entire Form I-9 process — including identity verification, document capture, and E-Verify redirect — in under 8 minutes, for both remote and in-person new hires.

What is ZipID?

ZipID is an I-9 compliance and identity verification platform that combines facial recognition, OCR document capture, and fraud detection to verify new hire identities and complete Form I-9 in under 8 minutes — with a legally compliant audit trail built in. It is the only I-9 platform built by the person who helped write the federal identity doctrine behind the law.

ABOUT

Who built ZipID?

ZipID was founded by Janice Kephart, former counsel to the 9/11 Commission and a national security identity expert with 25 years of federal and private sector experience, including designing border biometric workflows at MorphoTrak, now Idemia. Kephart authored the federal identity doctrine and biometric entry-exit recommendations underlying today's I-9 compliance framework, and has testified before Congress 19 times.