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Employers Must Use New I-9 Form Beginning February 2

As federal officials continue to crack down on companies employing undocumented workers, employers face changes to the document they use to verify a person's eligibility to work in the United States. The new federal Form I-9, which takes effect February 2, adds some documents and deletes others from its list of acceptable forms of identification.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act, originally passed in 1986, prevents employers from knowingly hiring illegal aliens and also prohibits discrimination against individuals who are authorized to work in the U.S.  Changes were made to the Form I-9 on December 17, 2008 with an implementation date of February 2, 2009, 45 days after the rule was posted in the Federal Register. 

The final rule implements the following Form I-9 changes :

Documents no longer acceptable:

• Expired documents may no longer be accepted as forms of identification.
• Forms I-688, I-688A, and I-688B (Temporary Resident Card and older versions of the Employment Authorization Card/Document) from List A are no longer issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and all previously issued forms have expired.  Foreign nationals may replace these documents with the new Employment Authorization Document, Form I-766.
• A Social Security card cannot be accepted if it states that the card does not authorize employment in the United States.
   

• Foreign passports containing specially-marked machine-readable visas and documentation for certain citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI).
• New U.S. Passport Card.
• Form I-94, Arrival Departure Record, may be used by individuals authorized to work for a specific employer by their status (ex. Individuals with a H-1B visa).

The revised form has separate check boxes for indicating "citizen" or "national" status instead of combining them in one “citizen or national” box.  

Employers are required to use the new Form I-9 for individuals hired on or after February 2 or they may face penalties.  
   
The process for completing the Form I-9 has not changed.  The employee must still complete Section 1 on or before the first day of employment.  Employers are required to complete Section 2 within three days of the date employment begins.  A new hire must also continue to present one document from List A or one document each from List B and List C.  If the proper documents are not available within three days of hire, the employee may provide an authentic “receipt” showing that a replacement document has been requested.  The employee then has 90 days to present the actual document. Employees unable to provide documents, or an “authentic receipt” within three days should not be allowed to continue working.

Employers must continue to audit their I-9 documents to ensure that employment authorization documents have not expired and that those that have expired are re-verified.  You can obtain the new I-9 form, along with instructions in the AIM Online Resource Center just click on the letter “I.” The USCIS is currently revising the I-9 Handbook for Employers.  The Handbook will be posted on the Online Resource Center once it has been made available.

Now is a great time to review current forms and properly dispose of I-9 forms that are no longer necessary to keep.  Contact Karen Choi at info@aimnet.org or 800-470-6277 to find out how AIM can help you with your I-9 audit.