USCIS released a revised version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, on July 17. Employers can use this revised version or continue using Form I-9 with a revision date of 11/14/16 N through Sept. 17. On Sept. 18, employers must use the revised form with a revision date of 07/17/17 N. Employers must continue following existing storage and retention rules for any previously completed Form I-9.
Key revisions to the Form I-9 instructions:
- Changed the name of the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices to its new name, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section.
- Removed “the end of” from the phrase “the first day of employment.”
Revisions related to the List of Acceptable Documents on Form I-9:
- The Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Form FS-240) to List C. Employers completing Form I-9 on a computer will be able to select Form FS-240 from the drop-down menus available in List C of Section 2 and Section 3. E-Verify users will also be able to select Form FS-240 when creating a case for an employee who has presented this document for Form I-9.
- USCIS combined all the certifications of report of birth issued by the Department of State (Form FS-545, Form DS-1350 and Form FS-240) into selection C#2 in List C.
- Renumbered all List C documents except the Social Security card. For example, the employment authorization document issued by the Department of Homeland Security on List C will change from List C #8 to List C #7.
All of the recent changes were included in a revised Handbook for Employers: Guidance for Completing Form I-9 (M-274), which is also easier for users to navigate.
EMPTrust HR clients using our electronic form i-9 and employee onboarding software will see the revisions to the form updated automatically with our software update on Aug 14th, 2017. No additional action is required. In addition, our electronic software will maintain versions of the forms so that existing i-9 forms will be maintained with the previous versions.
The software update will also update our E-verify web services to provide support the new Form FS-240 in List C of Section 2 & Section 3.
