The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has issued a revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 to be used by all public and private employers in the United States by May 7, 2013.  The form, as before, is used to verify an employee's identity and authorization to work in the United States.  Improvements found in the new Form I-9 include new fields, reformatting to reduce errors, and clearer instructions to both employees and employers - all designed to ensure greater clarity and ease of use.  Employers may download the new form from the USCIS website: www.uscis.gov.

By law, every employee in the United States, whether permanent, temporary, seasonal, casual, per diem, full-time, or part-time, must complete their portion of Form I-9 no later than the first day of employment.  The employer must, in turn, physically examine documentation from the employee establishing the employee's identity and employment authorization (from a list of approved documents set forth on the Form I-9), and complete the employer's portion of the form no later than the third day after commencement of employment.

Effective March 8, 2013, employers should begin using the new Form I-9 (Rev. 03/08/13)N for all new hires and reverifications.  Employers may continue to use previously accepted revisions (Rev. 02/02/09)N and (Rev. 08/07/09)Y until May 7, 2013.  After May 7, 2013, only the new Form I-9 may be used by employers.  The revision date for the Form I-9 may be found on the lower left corner of the form.

Employers should not complete a new Form I-9 for current employees if a properly completed Form I-9 is already on file.  Completed I-9 Forms are to be kept on file and available for inspection by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Department of Labor, or Department of Justice for three years after the date of hire or one year after employment termination, whichever is later.

If you have any questions on the new Form I-9, please contact us.