Revised Form I-9
Employment Eligibility Verification Effective
April 3,2009
~USCIS
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) issued a reminder that effective April 3, 2009, all U.S.
employers are required to use the revised Form I-9, Employment
Eligibility Verification, (Rev. 02/02/09). The revision date can be
found in the lower right-hand corner of the form. The interim
final
rule, published Dec.17, 2008 in the Federal Register, revised the list
of documents acceptable for the Employment Eligibility Verification
(Form I-9) process. Previous versions of Form I-9 may no
longer be
used.
Background
All employers, agricultural recruiters
and referrers for a fee are required to verify the identity and
employment authorization of each person they hire for employment in the
United States. USCIS has revised Form I-9 to bring it into compliance
with the governing statutes that require all documents presented during
the Form I-9 process to be unexpired. Allowing for expired documents
makes it more difficult for employers to verify an employee’s identity
and employment authorization and compromises the Form I-9 process.
Questions and Answers
Q. Why is a revised Form I-9 being
released?
A. The revised Form I-9 reflects changes made to the list of documents
acceptable for Form I-9 in accordance with the interim final rule
titled “Documents Acceptable for Employment Eligibility
Verification
,” published in the Federal Register on Dec. 17, 2008. The rule
furthers our ongoing effort to increase the security of the Form I-9
process.
Q. In January, USCIS announced a
delay in this
rule’s implementation in order to receive more comments and review the
rule further. What was the result of that process?
A. On
Jan. 30, 2009, USCIS did announce a 60-day delay in the effective date
of the Interim Final Rule, until April 3, 2009, in order to provide the
opportunity for further review of the rule. The comment
period was
reopened for 30 days (until March 4, 2009). After
consideration of the
comments and review of the rule, we determined that the rule should
take effect on April 3, 2009, as scheduled. The comments will
be
further considered, and responded to, in a subsequent final rulemaking
on this subject.
Q: What is the difference between
the revised Form I-9 and the old one?
A:
The biggest difference in the revised Form I-9 is that all documents
presented during the Form I-9 process must be unexpired. The list of
approved documents that employees can present to verify their identity
and employment authorization is divided into three sections: List A
documents verify identity and employment authorization, List B
documents verify identity only, and List C documents verify employment
authorization only.
The following documents have been added or removed
from the List of Approved Documents:
Two documents have been added to List A:
-
A
temporary I-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa
in addition to the foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp; and
-
A
passport from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) or the Republic
of the Marshall Islands (RMI) with a valid Form I-94 or Form I-94A
indicating nonimmigrant admission under the Compact of Free Association
Between the United States and the FSM or RMI.
Three documents were removed from List A:
-
Form I-688, Temporary Resident
Card;
-
Form I-688A, Employment Authorization Card;
and
-
Form I-688B, Employment Authorization Card.
Q. Where can I obtain a copy of the
revised Form I-9?
A. The revised Form I-9 can be downloaded, please see Related Links on
the right of this page. Employers who do not have computer
access can
order USCIS forms by calling our toll-free forms line at 1-800-870-3676.
Q: Has the Handbook for Employers
(M-274) been updated?
A: Yes. The
Handbook for Employers, Instructions for Completing the Form I-9
(M-274) has been updated to reflect these revisions to the Form I-9 and
is available for free, please see Related Links on the right of this
page.
Q. Why can’t I present an expired
document?
A. USCIS wants to ensure that documents presented for use in the Form
I-9 process are valid and reliably establish both identity and
employment authorization status. Expired documents may not demonstrate
a valid status and are prone to tampering and fraudulent use. This
change takes into account the limits placed on these documents by their
issuing authorities. If a document does not contain an expiration date,
such as a Social Security card, it is considered unexpired.
Q. Why is only one type of
Employment Authorization Document left in List A?
A. Forms I-688, I-688A and I-688B are older
employment authorization documents. These are no longer issued and have
now expired.
Q.
Section 1, Employee Information and Verification of the revised Form
I-9, refers to a citizen or noncitizen national of the United States.
Who is a noncitizen national?
A. Noncitizen nationals are
persons born in American Samoa, certain former citizens of the
formerTrust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and certain children of
noncitizen nationals born abroad.
More information on U.S. noncitizen nationals can be found at the
Department of State Certificates of Non-Citizen Nationality,
please see "Related Links."
Q: As an employer, may I accept
documents that used to be on the Form I-9 but aren’t now?
A:
No. Beginning April 3, 2009, employers may only accept documents on the
“List of Acceptable Documents” on the revised Form I-9 (Rev. 02/02/09).
When an employee must be reverified because employment authorization
has expired, employers should ensure that they use the revised Form I-9
with its new List of Acceptable Documents. An employer may not reverify
the employee by completing Section 3 – Updating and Reverification on a
previous version of Form I-9.
Q: Are there any changes in the way the
revised Form I-9 is completed?
A:
No. The revised form should be completed exactly the same way as the
old one. Employers should be mindful of changes to the types of
documents that they may accept in Section 2 – Employer Review and
Verification.
sing
for an immigrant
visa.)
Contact Malee about I-9 Compliance.