The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") recently published its latest revisions to the Employment Eligibility Verification Form – more commonly known as the Form I-9 – that are intended to minimize or, at the very least, reduce any errors with respect to completing the Form itself.
How Has The Form I-9 Changed?
Form I-9, which was previously a one-page document, has been
expanded to two pages (exclusive of the document's
instructions) largely because of the addition of certain fields in
section 1. Page 1 of the updated Form now exclusively concerns
"Employee Information and Attestation," while the newly
created page 2 addresses "Employer or Authorized
Representative Review and Verification" and
"Re-verification and Rehires."
The Form now requests that employees provide their foreign
passport information (where applicable), telephone number, and
email address. The latter two fields remain optional, and therefore
should not be mandated by employers.
Finally, the updated Form contains increasingly specific
instructions for both the employer and employee regarding
completion of the Form itself and the sufficiency of social
security cards as "List C" documents. Specifically, the
updated Form more clearly enumerates those situations in which a
social security card does not establish a prospective
employee's employment authorization. According to the revised
"List C," a social security card does not establish such
authorization where it includes or bears one of the following
limiting designations: (i) not valid for employment; (ii) valid for
work only with INS authorization; or (iii) valid for work only with
DHS authorization.
What Does This Mean for My Company?
Employers may continue to utilize the prior version of Form I-9
through and including May 7, 2013, although they are encouraged to
adopt the new Form much earlier. After May 7, however, employers
will be required to exclusively employ the revised Form for both
newly hired employees and those employees whose employment requires
re-verification. Employers need not complete new forms for existing
employees whose employment does not require re-verification,
although previously completed forms should be retained as part of
the normal recordkeeping process.
Vendors and third-parties that provide Form I-9 services, both
electronic and otherwise, will also be required to comply with the
new version of the form by May 7. You should nevertheless contact
any such providers and work with them to ensure full compliance.
You should also contact counsel to ensure that you have implemented
the appropriate mechanisms for compliance with the USCIS' most
recent I-9 revisions, and any other new hire requirements.
This article is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.
