December 12, 2008

USCIS Revises I-9 Form

USCIS announced today that on December 11, 2008, it submitted an interim final rule to The Federal Register revising the I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification form with the goals of streamlining and enhancing the security and integrity of the process.

Beginning 45 days from the publication of the interim final rule, employers will be required to use the new form for new hires and for the re-verification of current employees with expiring work authorization.

The revisions prohibit the use of expired documents and alter the list of permissible documents hires may present to their employers to prove that they are legally authorized to work in the United States. Specifically, the revised form eliminates the use of Forms I-688, I-688A, and I-688B (Temporary Resident Card and older versions of the work permit) from List A, while adding to the list certain foreign passports containing a special type of machine-readable visa and documentation for certain citizens of the Republic of Marshall Islands and The Federated States of Micronesia.

Employers are required to complete a Form I-9 for all individuals they seek to employ. The form contains three lists, A through C, and requires the employee to present either one document from List A (consisting of single documents that establish both identity and work authorization) or one document each from List B (documents that establish identity only) and C (documents that establish work authorization only). To review the USCIS news release and the interim final rule in full, click here.