USCIS Revises Form I-9 for Employment Eligibility Verification
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has recently announced that a revised employment eligibility form I-9 is now available for use. All employers are required to complete a Form I-9 for each employee hired in the United States.
The revision seeks to achieve full compliance with the document reduction requirements of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRIRA”), which reduced the number of documents employers may accept from newly hired employees during the employment eligibility verification process. The revised Form I-9 is an effort by USCIS to reduce the number of documents used to confirm employee identity and employment eligibility.
- Five Documents Removed Form List A
Key to the revision is the removal of five documents employees may use to prove both identity and employment eligibility. They include: Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-570); Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570); Alien Registration Receipt Card (Form I-151); unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327); and unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571). USCIS says the forms were removed because they lack features to help deter counterfeiting, tampering, and fraud.
- Unexpired EAD Card Added to List A
Additionally, the most recent version of the Employment Authorization Document (“EAD”) (I-688, I-688A, I-688B, and I-766) was added to List A. The revised list now includes: a U.S. passport (unexpired or expired); a Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551); an unexpired foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp; and unexpired EAD that contains a photograph; and an unexpired foreign passport with an unexpired I-94 card for nonimmigrants authorized to work for a specific employer.
- Changes to Form I-9 Instructions
Instructions regarding Section 1 of the new Form I-9 now state that the employee is not obligated to provide his or her Social Security Number in Section 1, unless he or she is employed by an employer who participates in E-Verify. The section on photocopying and retaining Form I-9 now includes information about electronically signing and retaining the I-9’s.
How This Affects You:
The USCIS encourages employers to start using the revised Form I-9 immediately, but are not required to use the form until notice is published in the Federal Register. The revised Form I-9 is available online at http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-9.pdf.
After the effective date, employers may incur fines and penalties for failing to use the new Form I-9. The USCIS states at its website that the current Form I-9 will no longer be valid as of December 7, 2007. Employers will not need to complete new forms for existing employees. However, employers must use the new 2007 Form I-9 when their employees require re-verification.
We will provide further information as soon as it becomes available.
Business Immigration Alerts Mailing List
If you wish to be added to this mailing list, please send an email to bizimmalert@mgplc.com. If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, please send an email to unsubscribe@mgplc.com with "Remove" in the subject line.
