New I-9 Form and Procedures Take Effect April 3, 2009
*By Britt J. Rossiter

On April 3, 2009, a new version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, takes effect, replacing the previous version of the form which is no longer valid. Employment eligibility verification procedures have also been amended. Employers must immediately begin utilizing the new form I-9 when verifying employees’ identities and work eligibility.

The new and effective Form I-9 is identified with the notation “(Rev. 02/02/09) N.” in the bottom, right corner of the Form. The previous edition of Form I-9, which is no longer valid, contained the notation “(Rev. 06/05/07) N” in the bottom, right corner. Employers can view and download the new Form I-9 on the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (“USCIS”) website at www.uscis.gov.

While the content of the revised Form I-9 is largely the same as the previous version, USCIS has made important changes to the List of Acceptable Documents, contained on the last page of the Form. Some of these changes include:

• All documents presented as verification of identity and employment authorization must be currently valid (i.e., unexpired);
• A document with no expiration date (e.g., social security account number card) will be deemed unexpired.
  
  
• The new Form I-9 contains several changes to “List A,” which describes documents that may be used to establish both an employee’s identity and employment eligibility.
  
  
• 3 documents have been removed from List A, including:
• Form I-688 (Temporary Resident Card)
• Form I-688A (Employment Authorization Card)
• Form I-688B (Employment Authorization Card)
  
  
• List A now includes machine-readable immigrant visas that contain a pre-printed temporary I-551 notation.

*Britt J. 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 Britt (bjr@zrlaw.com) at 216.696.4441.

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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