The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently revised the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9), which all employers must complete when hiring a worker in the United States. Key to the revision is the removal of five documents for proof of identity and employment eligibility: Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-570); Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570); Alien Registration Receipt Card (Form I-151); the unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327); and the unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571).
The forms were removed because they lack sufficient features to help deter counterfeiting, tampering and fraud.
Additionally, the most recent version of the Employment Authorization Document (Form I-766) was added to “List A” of Acceptable Documents. The revised list now includes:
- 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-688, I-688A or I-688B); and
- 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 new Form I-9 was released in early November. It has a revision date of June 5, 2007, (Rev. 06/05/07) printed on the lower right corner of the form. All U.S. employers must complete an I-9 form for all workers within the first three days of employment, and retain the form for one year after termination of employment or three years, whichever is longer. The form is not filed with the USCIS but must be available for inspection when requested by officials of U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of Labor and Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices. The government may assess penalties against employers who fail to use the updated form. To download the I-9 form and instructions: www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-9.pdf.
