New Form I-9s
On August 1, 2023, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) released a revised version of the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification that must be used for all new hires and rehires starting November 1, 2023.
The notable changes in the new form include:
- Reducing Sections 1 and 2 to a single sheet.
- Including a checkbox that allows employers enrolled in E-Verify to indicate that they have examined the employee’s identity and employment authorization documents remotely.
- Permitting the form to be completed electronically on tablets and mobile devices.
- However, it still needs to be signed by the employee and employer representative with a wet signature unless one is using an electronic Form I-9 system.
- Removal of the use of “alien authorized to work” in Section 1 and replacement with “noncitizen authorized to work” and clarification of the difference between “noncitizen national” and “noncitizen authorized to work.”
Remote I-9 Verification
The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) has authorized qualified employers to perform virtual verifications of employment eligibility for remote employees. Generally, employers are required to perform a physical verification, even for remote employees. During the COVID-19 pandemic employers were permitted to temporarily perform virtual and remote verifications. Under the new rule, qualified employers are permitted to continue performing virtual verifications under certain circumstances for remote employees. Employers who do not qualify for the new alternative verification method must physically verify I-9 documentation for employees.
To qualify, employers must be (1) in good standing in the E-Verify program, (2) enrolled in E-Verify for all hiring sites in the United States for which they seek to use the alternative procedure; (3) have complied with all E-Verify requirements, including verifying the employment eligibility of newly hired employees in the United States; and (4) have completed an E-Verify tutorial/training concerning fraud awareness and anti-discrimination.
If an employer or an authorized representative chooses to utilize the alternative procedure, they must complete the following steps within three (3) business days of the individual’s first day of employment:
- Notify the employee that they must provide a copy of their Form I-9 documents (front and back if the document is two-sided) or an acceptable receipt to the employer.
- Examine remotely the copies of the presented Form I-9 documents to ensure that they reasonably appear to be genuine.
- Conduct a live video interaction with the employee to ensure that the documentation reasonably appears to be genuine and related to the individual.
- Indicate on the Form I-9, by completing the corresponding box, that an alternative procedure was used to examine documentation to complete Section 2 or for reverification, as applicable.
- Retain a clear and legible copy of the documentation presented by the employee.
In the event of a Form I-9 audit or investigation, employers must also make available the clear and legible copies of the Form I-9 documents presented by the employee.
Please contact us if you have any questions about how to implement the revised Form I-9s or the new remote verification procedures within your company.