On January 31, 2020, the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) updated the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. Employers may begin using this updated form immediately or choose to use the previous edition dated July 17, 2017 through April 30, 2020. Employers that fail to use the new version of Form I-9 after April 30, 2020 may be subject to penalties as enforced by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Employers must continue to follow existing storage and retention rules for previously completed Form I-9.
What is Form I-9?
Employers use Form I-9 to verify the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. This includes citizens as well as non-citizens. All employers must complete and retain Form I-9 for every person they hire for employment in the U.S. as long as the person works for pay or other type of payment.
Form I-9 has three sections:
- Employee Information and Attestation
- Employer or Authorized Representative Review and Attestation
- Updating and Reverification
Storage Requirements:
All employers must:
- Retain and store Form I-9 for three years after the date of hire, or for one year after employment is terminated, whichever is later.
- Make their forms available for inspection if requested by authorized U.S. government officials.
What Changed?
The new edition contains minor changes to the previous form (Rev. 07/17/2017 N). Among the changes are additional countries in the Country of Issuance field in Section 1.
The other minor changes are only visible when completing the electronic version of the form, including the following:
- Clarified who can act as an authorized representative on behalf of an employer
- Updated USCIS website addresses
- Provided clarifications on acceptable documents for Form I-9
- Updated the process for requesting paper Form I-9
- Updated the DHS Privacy Notice
USCIS publishes a paper I-9 Form and an electronic, fillable I-9 Form. Employers can find these forms, and additional information on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
For questions or concerns regarding Form I-9, please contact Jodi Bryan, HR Director at jbry@cq-partners.com or Ernie Paolini, Director of Recruiting at ernp@cq-partners.com.
About the Author
Jodi Bryan is the Human Resources Director for CQ Partners and has been certified as a Professional in Human Resources since 2000. Prior to joining the organization in 2013, she held HR positions with progressive responsibilities in the pharmaceutical, manufacturing and banking industries. Jodi adapts her style to support each business where they are, from integration at acquisition to introducing processes around performance management.
