Legal Updates

November 13, 2007

Employers Are Instructed To Use Revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 for New Employees and Employees Requiring Re-Verification  

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have made available a revised Form I-9 ("Employment Eligibility Verification"), and M-274 ("Handbook for Employers, Instructions for Completing the Form I-9.") Revised Form I-9 eliminates the following five documents from List A of the List of Acceptable Documents:
  • 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)
Revised Form I-9 adds one document to List A of the List of Acceptable Documents:
  • Unexpired Employment Authorization Document (I-766) (This document joins all other Employment Authorization Documents with photographs that are currently in circulation, such as I-688, I-688A, and I-688B)
USCIS states that "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 useŠ [E]mployers must use the amended Form I-9 (Rev. 06/05/07) for all individuals hired on or after November 7, 2007Š and whenŠ employees require re-verification."

Nevertheless, employers will be given a 30-day period to transition to the new Form I-9. The Department of Homeland Security has announced that "it will not seek penalties against an employer for using a previous version of the Form I-9 during a 30 day transition period that begins on date of publication of the [Federal Register] Notice [announcing the revised Form I-9]."

The Federal Register Notice is expected to be published soon. After the transition period, employers who do not use the revised Form I-9 may face penalties. Employers are not required to complete the revised Form I-9 for existing employees, unless the employee requires re-verification.

The new Handbook for Employers is available at: http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/m-274.pdf

The new Form I-9 is available at http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-9.pdf

If you have any questions regarding the Revised Form I-9, please contact any member of Arent Fox's Immigration Compliance and Enforcement Practice.

Baruch Weiss
weiss.baruch@arentfox.com
(202) 775-5798

Stewart S. Manela
manela.stewart@arentfox.com
(202) 857-6364

Nancy A. Noonan
noonan.nancy@arentfox.com
(202) 857-6479

Kristine J. Dunne
dunne.kristine@arentfox.com
(202) 857-6385