Earlier this year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 and last month, the new form took effect. As of May 8, 2013 employers must only use Form I-9 (Rev. 03/08/13) for new hires and re-verifications, or be subject to monetary penalties.

The Form's revisions include new fields, reformatting and clearer instructions for hirers and employees. Other highlights:

• The Form is expanded to two pages from one page
• Revisions to font and font size
• Improved instructions for both Employees (Section 1) and
  Employers (Section 2), now six-pages of instruction (up from three)

Only the I-9 Form has changed; the acceptable documents provided by employees remain the same.

All employers are required to complete and retain a Form I-9 for each employee hired in the United States.

Revised forms are available in both English and Spanish and can or downloaded from www.uscis.gov. Employers can also order the forms by calling the USCIS at 1-800-870-3676.

Need more information? Follow the USCIS on Facebook, Twitter (@USCIS) YouTube (/uscis) and the USCIS blog,The Beacon.