United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced a revised and updated version of Form I-9 that employers must use to verify identity and employment authorization of all new hires, effective September 18, 2017.
While there are no substantive changes to the current I-9 Form recently updated in November 2016, employers are urged to use the roll out of the new Form I-9 as an opportunity to offer I-9, E-Verify and anti-discrimination training and for the purpose of assessing their state of immigration compliance.
The current I-9 form may be used until September 17. As of September 18, the only acceptable I-9 form is the one with the revision date of 7/17/17. No other versions will be acceptable.
The new form updates:
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Updated name of the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) to Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER)
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Form I-9 clarification regarding the timing by which individuals hired must present a completed I-9 form from "by the end of the first day of employment" to "by the first day of employment." Employers may therefore wish to revisit their own I-9 policies and procedures to ensure that section 1 of the I-9 Form is completed no later than when the employee starts work for pay
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List C acceptable documents have been revised to include Form FS-240, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, which is issued by the Department of State to certain individuals born abroad to a U.S. citizen parent. Although this form had previously been in use, the revision should assist employers who were previously told it was not an acceptable document to establish employment authorization. Further, USCIS combined all forms issued by the Department of State that report a birth into one section. As a result, List C now has 7 sections, not 8.
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USCIS has updated the M-274 I-9 Handbook to reflect the Form I-9 updates. Further, USCIS has issued a handbook in a new online format in addition to their PDF version. The online format also provides a selectable table of contents allowing the reader to select a chapter or subsection, including a 'Table of Changes" section.
