USCIS and I-9 forms are back in the news.
On Friday, July 21, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that an updated I-9 form will be available on August 1, and employers can begin using the form at that time. The revised form has been streamlined and consolidated into one page, with instructions that are easier to understand.
Employers may continue to use the older Form I-9 (Rev. 10/21/19) through October 31, 2023. After that date, employers will be subject to penalties if they use the older form.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) final rule allows for (but doesn’t require) a remote alternative to the physical examination of Form I-9 documentation. Employers may continue to conduct physical examinations.
The revised form has a checkbox to indicate when an employee’s Form I-9 documentation was examined using a DHS-authorized alternative procedure. However, at this time, the final rule only allows employers using E-Verify to use alternative verification method. Therefore, employers who are not using E-Verify and who used alternative/remote based document verification during the pandemic will need to update I-9s for any employee hired during that period for which remote verification methods were used. The deadline for this remains as August 30, 2023. More information can be found by viewing our previous blog post on this topic here.
E-Verify is a federal electronic employment verification program through which employers may confirm the work eligibility of their employees to work in the United States. Enrolling in this program is a simple and relatively quick process.
According to DHS, the impetus for the revamped Form I-9 and streamlined process, and final rule giving employers the option to continue to remotely verify documentation, is in “recognizing the realities of the post-COVID economic recovery in which more Americans are working remotely than ever.”
If you need help with I-9 compliance, please contact The Personnel Perspective, your local HR management consulting firm.
Celebrating its 36th year in business, The Personnel Perspective is a full-service HR management consulting firm specializing in human resources, leadership development and training (in Spanish and English), and recruiting. The firm’s core belief is that a company achieves organizational excellence through its people. Contact us to learn more: (707) 801-0140.