USCIS Releases New Form I-9

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has revised the I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form, to be required beginning December 26, as a first step toward achieving the document reduction goals under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act and “as a further step in its ongoing work toward reducing the number of documents used to confirm identity and work eligibility,” the agency said.

The most significant change to the I-9 is the elimination of the following five documents from List A of the List of Acceptable Documents:

• Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (N-560 or N-561)
• Certificate of Naturalization (N-550 or N-570)
• Alien Registration Receipt Card (I-151)
• Unexpired Reentry Permit (I-327)
• Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (I-571)

One document was added to List A of the List of Acceptable Documents:

• Unexpired Employment Authorization Document (I-766)

All the Employment Authorization Documents with photographs that are in circulation are now included as one item on List A:

• I-688, I-688A, I-688B, I-766

Instructions for the I-9 also now state that the employee is not obliged to provide the Social Security Number in Section 1 of the I-9, unless he or she is employed by an employer who participates in E-Verify (formerly Basic Pilot). The section on Photocopying and Retaining Form I-9 now includes information about electronically signing and retaining I-9 forms.

Employers should begin using the amended I-9 “(Rev. 06/05/07)N” immediately for all individuals hired on or after November 7, 2007. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it “recognizes that employers should be afforded a period of time to transition to the amended Form I-9.” The DHS therefore will not seek penalties against an employer for using a previous version of the I-9 during a transition period ending on December 26, 2007. After the transition period, employers who fail to use the revised I-9 may be subject to penalties.

Employers only need to complete the new I-9 for new employees. Employers do not need to complete new forms for existing employees, but employers must use the revised I-9 when their employees require reverification.

Copies of the documents that are acceptable under the new I-9 requirements may be obtained in a brochure, “Guide to Selected U.S. Travel and Identity Documents” (M-396), which may be ordered in bulk from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, National Distribution Center, P.O. Box 68912, Indianapolis, IN 46268; fax: (317) 290-3046.

Other resources:

1. Handbook for Employers (M-274)
2. Details re: the revised I-9
3. Deadline Reminder
4. USCIS Federal Register notice dated November 26, 2007