On November 26, 2007, USCIS published the new I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form in the Federal Register. The I-9 Form is used to document employment eligibility verification. All U.S. employers are required to have new hires complete Form I-9 within three days of hire, and must reverify certain employees upon expiration of employment authorization. At the time of completing the form, employees must provide appropriate documentation demonstrating they have employment authorization. Form I-9 includes a list of certain acceptable documents that employers may accept as evidence of employment eligibility. DHS's revisions to Form I-9 have reduced the number and types of acceptable documents.

Employers should begin using the form immediately although they are not legally required to do so until December 26, 2007. Employers who fail to use the new form after that date may face fines and other penalties. The new I-9 Form should be used for all new hires and to perform any required reverification of employment authorization for current employees or for rehired employees. Employers are not required to update or replace any I-9 Forms that have been completed using a previous version of the form. Employers may download the new I-9 Form from the USCIS website, www.uscis.gov". The new version of the I-9 form was released on November 9, 2007 and has the following edition date on the lower right hand corner: (Rev 06/05/07).

The new form updates the list of acceptable documents by removing five documents from the previous list of acceptable proof of both identity and employment authorization: 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). The new form also clarifies that the employee is only required to provide his or her Social Security Number if the employer is participating in the USCIS Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification Program (E-Verify).

In addition to removing five previously acceptable documents, the new I-9 Form adds the Unexpired Employment Authorization Document (I-766) to List A of the List of Acceptable Documents.

The new form now conforms with earlier regulations published in 1997 amending acceptable employment verification documents and does not incorporate changes in the law which have occurred since that date, such as the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act (AC-21).

Please contact your J&H attorney if you have questions about the new I-9 Form.

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