New I-9 Form & Regulations Effective February 9, 2009
*By Jason Rossiter

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a formal notice in the Federal Register that it has revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. All employers will be required to use the revised Form I-9 for new employees hired on or after February 2, 2009. The current 2007 version of Form I-9 will no longer be valid.

All U.S. employers are responsible for completion and retention of Form I-9s for each individual they hire for employment in the United States regardless of the individual’s citizenship. The employer must examine original documents presented by the employee (e.g., Social Security card, driver’s license, U.S. passport) to ensure that those documents confirm the employee’s identity and employment authorization.

Form I-9 has three categories of documents that an employer may accept. An employee must present to his or her employer either one document from List A (establishes both identity and employment authorization) or one document from List B (establishes identity) and List C (establishes employment authorization).

In an effort to reduce fraud and improve the integrity of the employment verification process, the USCIS revised Form I-9. The following revisions go into effect on February 2, 2009:

• Valid Unexpired Documents Required.
• Employers cannot accept expired documents to verify employment authorization (e.g., expired passports). However, a document containing no expiration date, such as a Social Security card, is acceptable.
  
  
• 5 documents have been removed from List A of the List of Acceptable Documents:
• Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561);
• Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570);
• Alien Registration Receipt Card (I-151);
• Unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327); and,
• Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571).
  
  
• One document was added to List A of the List of Acceptable Documents:
• Unexpired Employment Authorization Document (I-766).
  
  
• New U.S. Passport cards to verify employment eligibility and identity (List A document)
  
  
• The employee does not have to provide his or her Social Security number in Section 1 of Form I-9, unless he or she is employed by an employer who participates in E-Verify.
  
  
• All Employment Authorization Documents with photographs have been consolidated as one item on List A: I-688, I-688A, I-688B and I-766.
  
  
• Employers may now sign and retain Forms I-9 electronically.
  
  
• Social Security cards are not acceptable if they specify on their face that the issuance of the card does not authorize employment in the United States.
  
  
• List A now includes foreign passports containing special machine-readable Visas for certain citizens of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) and the Federated States of Maicronesia (FSM).
  
  
• Various technical form changes, e.g., Form I-9 now provides separate boxes for the employee to claim status as either a “citizen” or a “national” rather than one box to claim status as a “citizen or national.”

The revised Form I-9 is now available at http://www.uscis.gov/i-9. Employers must use the new Form I-9 or they may be subject to fines, which include civil money penalties of $110 to $1,100 for each form not properly completed.

The USCIS also issued a new 47-page Handbook for employers discussing the changes to Form I-9 and contains copies of acceptable documents. The Handbook can be downloaded with the latest version of Adobe Reader at: http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/m-274.pdf.

*Jason Rossiter has extensive experience in all aspects of workplace law, including employee intake and application procedures. For more information about application procedures or any other employment issue, please contact Jason at 216.696.4441 or bjr@zrlaw.com.

This newsletter is not intended as a substitute for professional legal advice and its receipt does not constitute an attorney-client relationship. If you have any questions concerning any of these articles or any other employment law issues, please contact Stephen S. Zashin at 216.696.4441.
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