The New, New I-9 Form

As a reminder, starting on Monday, September 18^th, companies will be required to use the newly revised Form I-9 issued by UCIS this summer. With the two revisions appearing to be identical, employers should check the revision dates before using any I-9 form. The most current I-9 Form will have a revision date of 07/17/2017. Since the forms are so similar, many people have been asking what the difference is between I-9 Form issued in November of 2016 and the updated version issued this summer.

The content changes to the new I-9 form are found sections not typically retained by the employer – the Instructions at the beginning of document and the List of Acceptable Documents on Page 3 of the Form I-9. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services site, revisions were as follows:

Form I-9 Instructions:

• USCIS changed the name of the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices to its new name, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section.
• USCIS removed “the end of” from the phrase “the first day of employment.”

The List of Acceptable Documents on Form I-9:

• USCIS added 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 Sections 2 and 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.
• USCIS 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 changed from List C #8 to List C #7.

Important Note: The only changes on the newly revised I-9 Form retained by employers is the revision date in the bottom left corner.

To avoid confusion, employers should dispose of outdated forms immediately. If an employee has already started completing the old form dated 11/14/2016 for their first day of work, prior to the new rollout date, employers may continue with completing this form within three business days as their usual practice. A new form does not need to be initiated.

The most recent I-9 form is available online at https://www.uscis.gov/system/files_force/files/form/i-9-paper-version.pdf