NEW I-9 FORM USED TO VERIFY AN EMPLOYEE’S AUTHORIZATION TO WORK IN THE UNITED STATES IS FINALLY RELEASED  

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) released a new Employee Eligibility Verification Form (I-9) earlier this month.  The new document reflects the revisions to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.  The form includes a revised list of documents employers may accept from newly-hired employees during the employment eligibility verification process and omits the documents that are no longer acceptable.
 

            The government removed five documents from List A on the prior form from the list of  documents which in the past were acceptable to establish proof of both identity and employment eligibility.  The documents eliminated are:

• Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560-N-570)

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

• Alien Registration Receipt Card (Form I-151)

• Unexpired Reentry Permit (form I-327)

• Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571)

The government explained that these documents were removed because they “lack features to help deter counterfeiting, tampering, and fraud.”
 

            Several documents were, however, added to List A of the list of acceptable documents on the revised form.  The acceptable documents on the revised list are:

• a U.S. Passport (unexpired or expired)

• a Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551)

• an Unexpired Foreign Passport with a temporary I-551 stamp

• an unexpired Employment Authorization Document that contains a photograph (Form I-766, I-688A or I-688B)

• an unexpired foreign passport with an unexpired Arrival-Departure Record (Form I-94) for non-immigrant aliens authorized to work for a specific employer

The instructions for the I-9 Form also reflect that an employee does not have to provide his or her Social Security Number on Section 1 of the form unless the employee is being hired by an employer participating in the USCIS Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification Program (“E-Verify”).  The instructions also address the regulations finalized in 2006 which permit employers to electronically sign and store I-9 Forms.
 

USCIS recommends employers begin using the new I-9 form immediately, even though it is not official until it has been published in the Federal Regulations. 
 

To be sure your company is using the revised form, be sure it’s marked “Rev. 06/05/07” in the lower right corner.
 

The “Handbook for Employers, Instructions for Completing the Form I-9” and the new I-9 are available at http://www.uscis.gov

                                                            Patricia F. Weisberg

                                                            Employment and Labor Group
 

For more information on these or other employment law issues, please contact one of the attorneys in Walter & Haverfield's Employment and Labor Group: