On Friday, July 21, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it will publish, on Tuesday, August 1, a revised version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification (edition date 08/01/23) on uscis.gov. Employers can use the current Form I-9 (edition date 10/21/19) through October 31, 2023. Starting November 1, 2023, all employers must use the new Form I-9.
What Are the Revisions?
The revised Form I-9:
Reduces Sections 1 and 2 to a single-sided sheet;
Is designed to be a fillable form on tablets and mobile devices;
Moves the Section 1 Preparer/Translator Certification area to a separate supplement that employers may provide to employees when necessary;
Moves Section 3, Reverification and Rehire, to a separate supplement that employers can print if or when rehire occurs or reverification is required;
Revises the Lists of Acceptable Documents page to include some acceptable receipts as well as guidance and links to information on automatic extensions of employment authorization documentation;
Reduces Form instructions from 15 pages to 8 pages; and
Includes a checkbox which employers enrolled in E-Verify may use to indicate they remotely examined identity and employment authorization documents under an alternative procedure the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has authorized.
Alternative Examination Procedures
Also on Friday, July 21, the DHS announced a Final Rule it will publish in the Federal Register on Tuesday, July 25. That Final Rule will recognize the end of temporary COVID-19 “flexibilities” as of July 31. That same Final Rule, will also provide DHS the authority to authorize optional alternatives for employers to examine Form I-9 documentation. The Final Rule will become effective on August 1, 2023.
At the same time, DHS will also publish another document in the Federal Register describing and authorizing employers enrolled in E-Verify the option to remotely examine their employees’ identity and employment authorization documents under a DHS-authorized alternative procedure. The Federal Register document provides an alternative for certain employers to remotely examine Form I-9 documents, instead of the current requirement to examine documents in-person. To participate in the remote examination of Form I-9 documents under the DHS-authorized alternative procedure, employers must be enrolled in E-Verify, examine and retain copies of all documents, conduct a live video interaction with the employee, and create an E-Verify case if the employee is a new hire.
Employers that were participating in E-Verify and created a case for employees whose documents were examined during the COVID-19 flexibilities (March 20, 2020, to July 31, 2023), may choose to use the new alternative procedure starting on August 1, 2023, to satisfy the physical document examination requirement by August 30, 2023. Employers not enrolled in E-Verify during the COVID-19 “flexibilities” will be required to complete an in-person physical examination by August 30, 2023.
Contact PMP if you have any questions.