Form I-9 Update

Details

Published on Tuesday, 11 February 2020 00:00

On January 31, 2020, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) released the revised Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification (“Form I-9”). Until the release of the revised form, employers were required to continue to use the previous form, which expired on August 31, 2019. Although the revised Form I-9 is now in effect, USCIS has permitted employers to continue using the prior version of the form until April 30, 2020 in order to provide additional time to make the necessary updates and adjust their business processes.  HR Partners recommends using the January 31, 2020 form as early as possible. However, if an employer chooses to utilize the April 30, 2020 extension and continue to use the previous form, employers should consider attaching a memorandum to the expired Form I-9s noting the USCIS directive.

The revisions made to the Form I-9 are as follows:

• Form FS-240 – Consular Report of Birth Abroad has been added to List C. Employer who will be submitting their Form I-9 online will now be able to select Form FS-240 from the drop-down menus available in List C of Section 2 and 3. Form FS-240 can also be used by E-Verify users while creating a case for an employee who has used this document for Form I-9.
• All certifications of report of birth issued by the Department of States has been combined into selection C, No. 2 in List C (Form FS-545, Form DS-1350, and Form FS-240).
• All the documents in List C except other than “Social Security Card” have been renumbered. For instance, the Employment Authorization Document that is issued by the Department of Homeland Security has been changed from List C, No. 8 to List C, No. 7.
• Clarifications have been made as to who can act as an authorized representative on behalf of an employer.
• Updated the Department of Homeland Security privacy notice.
• A revised Spanish version of Form I-9 is available for use in Puerto Rico only.
• Revisions made to the country of issuance field and the Issuing Authority field in Sections 1 and 2 respectively. The countries Eswatini and Macedonia have been added to be in line with the countries’ recent name change.

The revisions to the Form I-9 instructions are as follows:

• The form is updated with the new name of Immigrant and Employee Rights Section from its old name of the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices.
• The words “the end of” has been removed from the phrase “the first day of employment.”

If you have any questions regarding the Form I-9, please do not hesitate to contact HR Partners at 785-233-7860.