January 30, 2009
Click here for a pdf version
of this Alert.
The U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services
(USCIS), Department of
Homeland Security (DHS),
just announced that it is
extending the effective date
of its interim final rule
“Documents Acceptable for
Employment Eligibility
Verification” for 60 days in
an effort to provide DHS an
opportunity to further
consider the new I-9 rule.
This temporary extension
moves the effective date to
April 3, 2009. USCIS is also
extending the comment period
for this rule for an
additional 30 days pushing
that date back to March 4,
2009.
Under the Immigration Reform
and Control Act of 1986,
employers are required to
verify the identity and
employment authorization of
each person they hire for
employment in the United
States within three business
days of the employee's first
day of work. Specifically, a
Form I-9 must be executed
with Section 1 of the form
completed on day 1 and
Section 2 within 3 days of
hire. Employers must
continue using the current
edition of Form I-9. The
most controversial issue
surrounding the new Form I-9
centers around the
requirement that all
documents presented during
the I-9 verification process
must be unexpired. The I-9
interim final rule also adds
a new document to the list
of acceptable documents that
evidence both identity and
employment authorization and
makes several technical
corrections and updates.
These changes were discussed
in a recent GT Immigration
Alert.
Tenuous times coupled with
frustrating changes make it
imperative that employers
stay on top of compliance
issues. Even with the delay
of the new Form I-9,
increased worksite
enforcement and compliance
related scrutiny is sure to
continue. Internal training,
onsite audits, and
review of processes and
procedures can assist
companies in identifying
potential problems with
their current immigration
practices, thereby allowing
employers to resolve issues
internally before the
government initiates an
investigation.
This GT Alert was written by
Dawn M. Lurie. Questions
about this information can
be directed to Ms. Lurie at
luried@gtlaw.com.
