Have you heard? A new version of the Form I-9 has been issued. On January 31, 2020, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released the new version of the Form I-9, which provides employment eligibility verification. This new version includes minor changes to the form and instructions. The new Form I-9 has version date of '10/21/2019' which is located in the lower left corner of the form. Now that you know about it, you may be asking the following questions:
When does my organization need to start using this form?
The answer is right now! Employers should use the current version of the form for any new hires, if possible. A grace period has been allotted to allow for updates to systems and processes. The deadline to start using the new form is May 1, 2020. Employers can use the new form or the previous version until April 30, 2020, though using the new form is advisable.
What changes were made?
The USCIS announced the following changes have been made to the form and instructions:
- Form: Revised the 'Country of Issuance' field in Section 1 and the 'Issuing Authority' field (when selecting a foreign passport) in Section 2 to add "Eswatini" and "Macedonia, North", per those countries’ recent name changes (Note: This change is only visible when completing the fillable Form I-9 on a computer.)
- Instructions
- Clarified who can act as an authorized representative on behalf of an employer
- Updated USCIS website address
- Provided clarifications on acceptable documents for Form I-9
- Updated the process for requesting paper Forms I-9
- Updated the DHS Privacy Notice
The Form I-9 must be completed by all employers for every citizen and non-citizen hired in order to help verify an employee’s employment authorization and identity. For more information, visit I-9 Central.