New I-9 Form Released; Employers Not Required to Immediately Use It
November 8, 2007
This updates our recent WSM website announcement that a new I-9 form may be forthcoming. The government yesterday released a new version of the I-9 Form. In this connection, the Department of Homeland Security, USCIS, has updated its Handbook for Employers.
The Handbook provides instructions for completing the new form and includes a copy of the form at the very end of the Handbook. We provide a link to accessing the Handbook below. We hope our employer client HRs will find the following points useful:
• Employers are not required to use the new I-9 form now. The required date employers must use this form will be triggered when the government provides required notice by publishing the form in the Federal Register. The government encourages employers to use the form now. We advise that employers may wish to wait until using the form.
• The form shortens the list of documents employees may use to verify identity and employment eligibility. Specifically, it removes five documents currently permissible:
o Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-570);
o Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570);
o The old Alien Registration Receipt Card (Form I-151);
o The Reentry Permit (Form I-327); and
o The Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571)
• Employers may access the New Employer Handbook for I-9 Completion online: http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/m-274.pdf
We will notify you when use of the I-9 form becomes mandatory. Please contact us if you wish to be included in our corporate presentations on this and other critical immigration compliance issues or have in-house, individualized corporate compliance trainings and I-9 audits.
