Immigration Update
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently revised Form I-9 in an effort to streamline the Employment Eligibility Verification process. The newly revised Form I-9 has been published and is effective beginning February 2, 2009. As of that date, employers must use the revised Form I-9 for all new hires and to reverify any employee with expiring employment authorization.
Employers must complete a Form I-9 for each newly hired employee to verify their identity and authorization to work in the United States. The list of approved documents that an employee can present to verify their identity and employment authorization is divided into three sections: List A documents verify identity and employment authorization, List B documents verify identity only, and List C documents verify employment authorization only.
The revised form and new I-9 rules narrow the list of acceptable identity documents and further specify that expired documents are not considered acceptable forms of identification. In particular, Forms I-688, I-688A, and I-688B (Temporary Resident Card and older versions of the Employment Authorization Card/Document) have been eliminated from List A. USCIS no longer issues these cards and all that were in circulation have expired. A complete summary of the minor revisions to Form I-9 as well as frequently asked questions in regards to the new form can be found at the USCIS website.
Employers who have questions regarding the new form or the I-9 Employment Verification process are advised to contact their MVA Immigration Team contact.