Documents that were once acceptable, are no longer allowed by I-9 updates

Though there is not an updated form of the I-9 since UMB no. 1615-0047, there is updated information on what documents are no longer acceptable to establish both identity and Employment Eligibility for the I-9.  The documents are categorized under List A and are as follows:

1. Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561)
2. Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570)
3. Form I-151 (Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card with photograph)
4. Unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327)
5. Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571)

USCIS is working on a new updated I-9 with an updated OMB no., until then employers can keep using the UMB no. 1615-0047 until the updated form is issued.

For more information about I-9 regulations, please visit www.uscis.gov

New Form I-9 mandatory for all employees hired on or after November 7, 2007.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released a revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. The form is available as a downloadable PDF on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov.

USCIS has revised Form I-9 to bring it into compliance with the 1997 INS interim rule, which eliminated some of the documents that employers may accept from newly hired employees. The documents that have been changed are:

Five documents removed from List A:

·        Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561)

·        Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570)

·        Alien Registration Receipt Card (I-151)

·        Unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327)

·        Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571)

One document added to List A:

·        Unexpired Employment Authorization Document (I-766)

All Employment Authorization Documents with photographs in circulation are now included as one item on List A:

·        I-688, I-688A, I-688B, I-766

The updated form should be completed exactly the same way the old one was. The only difference is the type of documents that employers may accept in Section 2. Employers may not accept documents that used to be on the I-9 form but aren’t now. Employers do not need to complete new forms for current employees that have already been verified. However, employers must use the 2007 Form I-9 when employees require re-verification.

As of November 7, 2007, the form I-9 with a revision date of June 5, 2007 is the only version of the form that is valid for use. However, DHS will give employers a period of time to transition to the updated form I-9. DHS will not seek penalties until 30 days after a notice regarding the updated form is published in the Federal Register. As of today, the notice has not yet been published in the Federal Register.

New rules published regarding changes to the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.

A new interim rule for the Form I-9 has been released from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).  The amended regulations modify the types of acceptable documents that employees may present to their employers for completion of the Form I-9.

Under the new rule, employees will no longer be able to present expired documents to verify employment authorization on the Form I-9. Under previous rules, a U.S. passport and all List B documents were acceptable for the Form I–9 even if they are expired.

The rule also adds a few additional documents to List A of the Form I-9, and makes other, technical changes to update the list of acceptable documents.  The revised Form I-9 includes additional changes, such as revisions to the employee attestation section, and the addition of the new U.S. Passport Card to List A.   

The revised Form I-9 will need to be used beginning February 2, 2009.

I-9 form delayed

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) delayed the new form until April 3, 2009.  Employers are required to continue to use the Form I-9 (Rev. 06/05/07).  Comments regarding the new form can be submitted in writing until March 4, 2009 by contacting www.regulations.gov.

Changes on the new form include no longer allowing expired documents and some documents will be removed and no longer accepted.

Retention of the Form I-9 is either three years after the date of hire or one year after employment is terminated, whichever is later.

For more informaiton on employement documentation, retention or the Form I-9 contact StaffScapes Human Resource Department at 303-466-7864.

Federal contractors have been granted a small delay until E-Verify becomes required.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that the rule mandating the use of the E-Verify program for federal contractors has been delayed again.  Federal contractors are not required to use the E-Verify system until June 30, 2009, pushing back the date by six weeks. The rule requiring E-Verify for federal contractors was first published to go into effect on January 19, 2009. As published, any contractor performing a prime federal contract that will be performed 120 days or longer and has a value of $100,000 or more would be required to E-Verify all new-hires and any employee (new and current) that will be working on the contract. For more information go to the USCIS website at: http://www.uscis.gov/everify

See Also

• USCIS E-Verify Delay Notice
  Notice from USCIS regarding the delay in E-Verify requirments

I-9 Form

Don’t get rid of your I-9 forms just yet.  The Employment Eligibility verification form I-9 is valid beyond the 06/30/09 expiration date.  The current form you should be using was revised on February 2, 2009 and was effective April 1, 2009.  (Rev. 02/02/09) is at the bottom of the form. 

USCIS is waiting for the extension to be approved before they will issue an updated form.  They have requested to continue to use the current version. 

For more informaiton visit www.uscis.gov.

The accuracy of the E-Verify program has always been argued, but recent statistics released from USCIS show that this is a very accurate system. The statistics are based on cases submitted through E-Verify between October 2009 and September 2010, the most recent fiscal year for USCIS. Out of over fifteen and a half million cases 98.3% of employees were automatically confirmed. Of the 1.7 % of employees receiving system mismatches, 0.3% contested and resolved the mismatch and 1.4% were not found work authorized.

This puts serious doubt to the argument that there are up to 20% of work authorized employees having to contest and resolve errors stemming from the E-Verify system. I also find it interesting that only 1.4% are not work authorized, which means that either the number of illegal immigrants working in the US is significantly lower than what has been reported or illegal workers are applying at other employers that are not doing the verifications. I tend to believe it is the latter. 

USCIS also reported that through regular updates and enhancements, the E-Verify system continues to improve its accuracy.