USCIS Releases New Form I-9 for Employment Eligibility
Posted Nov 16, 2007
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The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued an update (PDF, 44KB) on November 7, 2007 announcing a revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9, now available for use. All employers must complete a Form I-9 for every employee hired in the U.S., regardless of the employee's citizenship and immigration status. As MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers will recall from our October 26, 2007 article New Form I-9 for Employment Verification Not Imminent (and updates posted on October 31, 2007 and November 8, 2007), the USCIS has been providing somewhat inconsistent information to the general public concerning its intent to revise Form I-9. With the issuance of this most recent notice, however, the USCIS has resolved a degree of uncertainty on this matter, and has now made the new Form I-9 available for use by U.S. employers.
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Significant Changes in the New Form I-9
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The USCIS has removed five documents from List A of the List of Acceptable Documents. These are Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561); Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570); Alien Registration Receipt Card (I-151); Unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327); and Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571). These documents were removed because they do not have sufficient anti-fraud and anti-counterfeiting features. In addition, one document was added to List A, which is an Unexpired Employment Authorization Document (Form I-766). The Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) with photographs that are currently in circulation are now included as one item on List A (Forms I-688, I-688A, I-688B, and I-766).
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When Should Employers Start Using New Form I-9?
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The USCIS "encourages" employers to begin using the new Form I-9 immediately. Employers are not, however, required to start using the new form until its publication in the Federal Register, which is expected in the near future. Once they are using the new form, employers are not permitted to accept any documents that are not on the List of Acceptable Documents for the new Form I-9. While employers do not need to complete new forms for existing employees, they must use the new form for all new or returning employees who require re-verification.
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Conclusion
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The USCIS has indicated that the new, revised Form I-9 is a "further step in USCIS's ongoing work toward reducing the number of documents used to confirm identity and work eligibility." It also appears that some employees may be negatively affected by this change. We at the Murthy Law Firm will update our readers on this topic as new information becomes available.