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Reporting Day

Congratulations! You Are Ready to Report

Your first day is exciting! Remember to give yourself plenty of time to find the room where you were directed to report. And please bring with you the following items:

  • A copy of the training certificate(s) for each course you finished.
  • Appropriate identification documents – see table below. Bring one item from List A or one item from BOTH List B and List C.

LISTS OF ACCEPTABLE DOCUMENTS
All documents must NOT be expired

LIST A (Only one document required)

Documents that Establish Both Identity and Employment Authorization

  1. U.S. Passport or U.S. Passport Card
  2. Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card (Form 1-551)
  3. Foreign passport that contains a temporary 1-551 stamp or temporary 1-551 printed notation on a machine- readable immigrant visa
  4. Employment Authorization Document that contains a photograph (Form 1-766)
  5. In the case of a nonimmigrant alien authorized to work for a specific employer incident to status, a foreign passport with Form 1-94 or Form I-94A bearing the same name as the passport and containing an endorsement of the alien's nonimmigrant status, as long as the period of endorsement has not yet expired and the proposed employment is not in conflict with any restrictions or limitations identified on the form
  6. Passport from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) or the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) with Form 1-94 or Form I-94A indicating nonimmigrant admission under the Compact of Free Association Between the United States and the FSM or RMI
LIST B (Must be accompanied by a document from List C)

Documents that Establish Identity

  1. Driver's license or ID card issued by a State or outlying possession of the United States provided it contains a photograph or information such as name, date of birth, gender, height, eye color, and address
  2. ID card issued by federal, state or local government agencies or entities, provided it contains a photograph or information such as name, date of birth, gender, height, eye color, and address
  3. School ID card with a photograph
  4. Voter's registration card
  5. U.S. Military card or draft record
  6. Military dependent's ID card
  7. U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Card
  8. Native American tribal document
  9. Driver's license issued by a Canadian government authority

For persons under age 18 who are unable to present a document listed above:

  1. School record or report card
  2. Clinic, doctor, or hospital record
  3. Day-care or nursery school record
LIST C (Must be accompanied by a document from List B)

Documents that Establish Employment Authorization

  1. Social Security Account Number card other than one that specifies on the face that the issuance of the card does not authorize employment in the United States
  2. Certification of Birth Abroad issued by the Department of State (Form FS-545)
  3. Certification of Report of Birth issued by the Department of State (Form DS-1350)
  4. Original or certified copy of birth certificate issued by a State, county, municipal authority, or territory of the United States bearing an official seal
  5. Native American tribal document
  6. US. Citizen ID Card (Form 1-197)
  7. Identification Card for Use of Resident Citizen in the United States (Form 1-179)
  8. Employment authorization document issued by the Department of Homeland Security

USDA Identification Badge

Getting a USDA identification badge takes several steps. You may be issued a temporary badge when you arrive. If you work in a GSA building, you will also likely be required to obtain a GSA badge. During your first day, the Human Resources staff will guide you through this process.

Your permanent badge is a standard US Government badge. This badge contains your photo and a computer chip. You will need this badge to enter any USDA space and this badge can also serve as a second form of a Government issued identification. As USDA moves forward, you will eventually need this badge to access your computer.

Your permanent badge is often called by two different names – LincPass (after President Lincoln, the founding President of USDA) or HSPD-12 Card. HSPD-12 is the Government directive that requires the standardized card.

To help you understand how you get your permanent card, you can view a flow chart (PDF, 170 KB) of the process.

For the weeks following your orientation, you will focus on learning your job and experiencing USDA. At the end of your first month, your supervisor will meet with you and give you your performance plan for the remainder of the fiscal year (Oct 1 - Sep 30). This plan will help you focus on your efforts and will be used to evaluate your performance at the end of the performance period (Sep 30th). Your supervisor will also work with you to finalize your Individual Development Plan (IDP). You are not evaluated on your IDP; your IDP simply documents the kind of training and developmental activities that you agree to do in the coming year.

Next: Learn About Pay & Benefits