Thursday, March 7, 2013

USCIS Releases Newly Revised Form I-9

Updated March 8, 2013
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced the official revised Form I-9 containing new revision dates, improved instruction fields and an additional page with new data fields which has been released today.  While the new I-9 Form has been through multiple public comment periods since May of 2012, USCIS has only now indicated that they are ready to release the final revised form.  The new Form I-9 is available to view on the USCIS website or can be downloaded here.

Implementation and Revision Dates

The new Form I-9, released today from the Federal Register, has a revision date of “(REV. 03/08/2013)N” for employers to comply with their employment eligibility verification responsibilities.  USCIS will provide all employers with a 60-day grace period to adopt and implement the new Form I-9, after which, all prior versions of the Form I-9 can no longer be used by the public.  If an employer fails to use the new Form I-9 when processing newly hired employees, they may be subject to penalties imposed under the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA). Employers utilizing our electronic I-9 Form will automatically have access to the new Form I-9 before the end of the 60-day grace period.  We have already started to program the new I-9 Form in our application and are simply waiting for the final version to be released by USCIS, so we can complete the update to the electronic Form I-9.  As noted by USCIS, you can continue to use the current I-9 during the 60-day grace period.

Employers who currently use I-9 forms to verify the employment eligibility of their employees do not need to complete a new form for those individuals, unless re-verification is necessary.  If unnecessary verification is imposed, the employer may be subject to penalties based on a violation of the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.

Changes to the Form I-9

Although the form will have an additional page, USCIS states in the announcement that “The newly revised Form I-9 makes several improvements designed to minimize errors in form completion.  The new additions to the form are:
  • The addition of data fields for employee’s foreign passport information (if applicable), telephone number and email address.
  • Improved instruction fields for the form.
  • Revision of the forms layout expanding it from one to two pages (not including the form instructions and the Lists of Acceptable Documents).
Form I-9 Compliance, LLC

Upon the release of the official revised Form I-9, Form I-9 Compliance, LLC will begin completing its extensive programming of the revised Form I-9 for all system users.  Form I-9 Compliance will be providing weekly updates as to the official release date of the Form I-9, in its electronic platform.  Form I-9 Compliance will complete all updates to the electronic I-9 and ensure that the new form is integrated with the newest version of E-Verify during the 60-day grace period.

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posted by Form I-9 Compliance News @ 3:43 PM