Effective April 3, 2009, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification (Rev. 02/02/09), goes into effect for all U.S. employers. The revision date is printed on the lower right-hand corner of the form.
The interim final rule, published December 17, 2008, in the Federal Register, revised the list of documents acceptable for the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) process. Click HERE to view the published rule. Employers may no longer use previous versions of the Form I-9.
The biggest difference in the revised Form I-9 is that all documents presented during the Form I-9 process must be unexpired. The revised list of acceptable documents improves the security and effectiveness of the Form I-9 process. The list of approved documents that employees can present to verify their identity and employment authorization is divided into three sections: List A documents verify identity and employment authorization, List B documents verify identity only, and List C documents verify employment authorization only.
The following documents have been added or removed from the List of Approved Documents:
Two documents have been added to List A:
- A temporary I-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa in addition to the foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp; and
- A passport from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) or the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) with a valid Form I-94 or Form I-94A indicating nonimmigrant admission under the Compact of Free Association Between the United States and the FSM or RMI.
Three documents were removed from List A:
- Form I-688, Temporary Resident Card;
- Form I-688A, Employment Authorization Card; and
- Form I-688B, Employment Authorization Card.
The USCIS has issued questions and answers related to the revised I-9 form HERE. Since the new Form I-9 becomes effective today, employers should revise their I-9 process to replace the prior form with the new February 2, 2009, version. The new Form I-9 can be downloaded HERE. There is an updated version of the Handbook for Employers – Instructions for Completing Form I-9 to reflect the requirements of the revised Form I-9. Click HERE to view it.
For more information on this and other immigration issues, please contact:
Arcie Jordan at 512.236.2209 or ajordan@jw.com
James Prappas at
713.752.4298 or jprappas@jw.com
Lonnie Schooler at 713.752.4516 or lschooler@jw.com
Rick Sindelar at 713.752.4273 or rsindelar@jw.com
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